Will There Be Tomorrow
by Winter-Rae
Summary: When a mysterious illness starts affecting Rochelle and nearly killing her, the others are left to wonder; what caused it, will it get worse and will they be next? EllisxRochelle some NickxRochelle.
1. Chapter 1: Wondering

**Will There Be Tomorrow**

**Title:** Will There Be Tomorrow

**Summary:** When a mysterious illness starts affecting Rochelle and nearly killing her, the others are left to wonder; what caused it, will it get worse and will they be next?

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing!

**Pairings:** Ellis/Rochelle, some Rochelle/Nick

**Warnings:** Language, mature scenes, sexual situations, and character death. You have been warned.

**Winter-Rae:** Okay, so three things here; One: the Nick and Rochelle pairing will mostly be one sided, Two: all of the one shots I have written will be referred to in this story. So if you haven't read them, please do or you might be confused. Three: read, enjoy and leave me some feedback, I love hearing what everyone thinks.

* * *

**Chapter 1: Wondering**

'How long has it been?' Rochelle wondered to herself, 'A week? Two weeks? Longer? I hope not longer. Shit, momma and daddy must be going crazy by now. Don't think about that now, just stay focused and don't fall behind.'

Rochelle never thought the day would come where she would come to hate thinking about her family. She had always been a very family oriented person; always keeping in touch, visiting when she could, calling them every weekend to make sure things were alright, all of that. But now, all she wanted to do was put them out of her mind.

Why? Well, when she thought about them not only did she get homesick, but she started to make herself sick with worrying about them. Things would come to her mind that would always give her nightmares that night. Things like where they were? Were they safe? Had they gotten sick with this infection?

When these thoughts plagued her, she tried to think of the best possible case scenarios. To her the best one was that they were still at home, all safe and sound and just wondering when in the hell she was going to get home. Another good one was that they had bolted themselves in their large and comfortable home with all the supplies they needed and were surviving just fine.

But of course, when you thought about the best case scenarios, the worst case scenarios weren't too far behind in your mind.

To Rochelle, some of the worst cases that had intruded in her mind were that her family became overcome with worry for her. That had led them to decide to travel down to Savannah to try and find her so they could bring her home safely, thus getting mixed up in all of this shit. But the worst one had to be thinking of her sweet mother, her stubborn father, her kind hearted brother, and her wonderful sister as Infected. That thought brought on the nightmares.

Nightmares where her family changed before her very eyes and then proceeded to try and kill her and her new found friends; Coach, Nick and Ellis. Those nightmares always had her waking in a cold sweat and nearly screaming. She would have to bite down hard on either the heel of her hand or her tongue to keep from letting out a sound. She didn't want to wake the others, waking them would only bring on questions; questions would then lead to meaningless promises that things would be okay.

Meaningless was probably too harsh of a term to use. The promises they made to each other to survive and look out for one another wasn't meaningless at all. Coach had saved her plenty of times; so did Nick, even though he often complained about it afterwards; and so did Ellis, he never complained about it either, but then again Ellis rarely complained about anything.

Rochelle had been thankful to run into the three of them in this world gone to hell. Who would have thought that she would find such amazing men to help her find an inner strength she didn't even know she had. They became like another family to her and she loved them all dearly.

But, thinking of them as family just made her think of her real family. Thus starting the whole cycle of wondering how they were and going through the best and worst case scenarios again.

She just couldn't win in this situation. Maybe she needed more sleep. Yeah right, sleep would only come when the nightmares stopped and they never seemed to get tired of plaguing her.

God, she was sick of this.

She was tired, sore, and probably reeked. Thank God the guys were decent enough not to point out how much like shit she looked. Of course they understood that there was never really a powder room around for her to make herself look decent. Then again they didn't exactly look like knights in shining armour either. But that was easily forgiven, zombie apocalypses tended to make you see the more important things in life. Besides, knights in shining armour came in all shapes and sizes; her three knights definitely testified to that.

While these modern knights didn't wear armour or carry swords, they carried guns and other weapons that could take one's head off. They didn't charge up on white stallions, but they would run as fast as their legs could carry them to help if you called them. They also didn't speak like a well mannered knight in the stories, one had a thick southern drawl, another a deep rumbling tone and the last had a sarcastic and cynical way of speaking.

Still, Rochelle wouldn't trade these knights for the ones in the stories she would read as a child. She somehow doubted Prince Charming would stick around to fight in a zombie apocalypse. And if he did, she couldn't see him lasting very long. However, the idea of seeing a guy on a white horse riding away from a horde of zombies was enough to make her smile.

The more Rochelle thought about stuff like this, the more sure she was that she was not getting enough sleep. Even when she was younger her parents always knew when she was overtired. She would either start to ramble on, or giggle uncontrollably.

Still, it was her turn for the watch so sleep would have to wait for at least another hour, when Ellis would take over for her.

"Ro, you look tired," Ellis spoke up from his spot on the floor, bringing her out of her thoughts, something she was actually thankful for. Being left alone with one's thoughts could sometimes be a scary thing, especially when those thoughts were filled with death and the screams of the dying all around you.

This explained why she hated being on watch all alone. With no one to talk to she was forced to retreat into her mind which held no comfort for her any longer. Thoughts of her family were tainted by the thoughts of the Infected and brought nightmares. Nightmares took away sleep, which was really the only place she felt safe when they were dreamless. Thoughts of her home only brought homesickness, enough to make her feel physically ill as well.

Still, when Ellis spoke to her she tried to hide all of this by offering him a smile.

"My sister used to say that was just a nice way of telling someone they look like shit."

She could tell that Ellis wasn't sure if she had made a joke or if she was upset with him for bringing up something about how she looked. She threw on another smile.

"That was a joke sweetie."

"Oh, right, well I can take your watch for you while you sleep...you know, if you want."

A southern gentleman; now that was Ellis through and through. While Nick and Coach were sound asleep, both of them a little banged up from a hard day of staying alive, he remained his bright and cheery self. She had never been more thankful for someone like Ellis, he was keeping them all sane with his happy disposition and his general 'go get em' attitude.

"No Ellis, you need to sleep too."

He grinned.

She loved his smile. From the first moment she saw him she knew he had a face that was made to smile and was glad that he pretty much always had one.

"It's almost my turn anyway," he said, "Besides, Keith, Dave and I used to pull all nighters all the time. This one time we stayed up for like three days straight!"

"How the hell did you manage that?" she asked him, generally amazed.

"Lots of coffee, beer and video games," he replied.

Rochelle was about to chuckle, but it was cut off by a yawn.

"See," he said, "You need sleep more than me, come on now."

She sighed.

"Okay, you win, but don't let me sleep for too long okay?"

"You got it."

He then patted the spot on the floor next to him. There had been a spare sleeping bag which he had crashed on a few hours ago and now he was offering it's warmth to her. She got up from her spot on a table and joined him on the floor. It might have been hard but at that point she was far too tired to care.

Ellis was about to get up to take over the watch but Rochelle had taken his arm and placed it over her.

"Just until I fall asleep okay?" she asked him quietly. Ellis smiled and curled back up next to her. He surprised her even more when he pulled her close and actually started to hum quietly to her.

"What are you doing?" she asked, feeling sleep already tugging at her.

"My momma used to sing me to sleep when I was having a hard time sleeping as a kid," he whispered to her.

"What makes you think I'm having a hard time sleeping?" she asked him.

"You toss and turn," he replied as he rubbed her arm lightly, "Nightmares?"

"No," she lied, "The floor isn't exactly comfortable."

"Oh I don't know," he said, "I'm pretty comfortable right now, with you."

Rochelle closed her eyes and pressed herself closer to him.

"I am too," she admitted.

"Well good, now have yourself a sleep Ro, good night."

He then went back to humming quietly to her.

She didn't recognize the song and was too tired to try and figure it out or ask him what it was called. So she just did as he said and tried to focus on sleep.

"Good night Ellis."

* * *

When Rochelle woke the next morning she was alone. She wasn't surprised or put out by it either, after all she had just asked Ellis to stay with her until she had fallen asleep and she trusted that he had done that. After all, if he hadn't, she would have felt him move to leave, and she didn't recall that at all, thankfully.

Also, thankfully, she had a dreamless sleep that night and a restful one as well. Maybe today was going to be a good day after all. She could live with that.

It was actually the sound of Coach's voice which had woken her from her sleep. He was talking about how he had never seen anyone sleep so deeply before. Followed by Nick laughing quietly.

"Am I missing something?" she asked as she sat up and stretched.

"Nick accidentally kicked your leg when he was walking by," Coach explained, "You didn't even move."

"For a minute I thought you were dead," Nick pointed out, "I was about ready to try using that defibrillator on you. But then you rolled over, so I didn't."

"Obviously," she replied, taking Coach's hand as he offered it to pull her up, "Where's Ellis?"

"Right here," he chirped, "Ya'll will never guess what I found either."

The three all knew better than to try and guess just what it was he might have found in his search. Ellis was never good at holding back in sharing anything. And this time was no different. He lifted up his find, a gun of some kind, and set it down on the table for them to see.

"What the hell is that?" Rochelle asked him.

"That there Ro, is a grenade launcher!" he said, excitement evident in his voice, "Can you believe someone just left this lying around like that? It's in perfectly good condition. I'm gonna go kill some sons-a-bitches with this baby!"

"Slow down son," Coach said, "Let's just make sure we have everything we need before leaving."

"Better leave the safety on that thing too," Nick told Ellis, "Wouldn't want you to shoot your foot off now would we?"

"Joke's on you Nick," Ellis shot back, "This thing don't have no safety."

Nick smacked his forehead while Coach chuckled.

Ellis seemed none the wiser to his statement and Rochelle felt his eyes on her as she picked up the backpack they had filled with ammo. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and saw the concerned look on his face. She must be moving slower than she usually did. Maybe she better pick up the pace, the last thing she wanted was for him to worry about her and get hurt trying to help her when she was fine. She squared her shoulders and lifted the bag onto her back.

"Ready?" she asked him.

He nodded.

"You bet, you?"

"Always."

He didn't look convinced but she was determined to not let him try to find an excuse to stick around here longer. They had places to be after all, they still had to search through the mall for a way out. After finding out that C.E.D.A. was no longer around they decided to spend the night in the safe house before heading out again.

The safe house was certainly a step down from the apartment they had stayed in a few days ago. Rochelle felt her face heat up as she thought back to the night she spent with Ellis there. Only a day or so ago, yet it felt like ages. Still, she enjoyed the moment, even though neither of them had brought it up since. It was as if they reached a silent agreement to bring it up in better times. Rochelle could live with that.

"Alight, let's get going then," Nick said as he threw open the safe house door and hurried out, his guns going off as he shot at the Infected that were already swarming them. Rochelle hoisted up her assault rifle and shot down four females who were running at her, screaming, always screaming.

"You know," Ellis mused to her, "I really gotta say there's nothing sexier than a woman who can handle a rifle like you can Ro."

Rochelle looked at him for a moment, taken by surprise at his obvious attempt at flirting and then laughed.

"Well thank you Ellis," she replied.

"A regular Annie Oakley!" he insisted, picking up a discarded pipe bomb and clipping it to his belt.

"Keep it in your pants lover boy," Nick interjected moodily.

"Okay."

Now there was someone who needed to lighten up a bit as far as Rochelle was concerned. Sure she liked the guy well enough and even preferred his more serious side when things were grim. There was a time to be serious and a time for fun and light hearted banter but she wished he wouldn't be so harsh towards Ellis.

She briefly wondered why he seemed so distant from all of them and then decided it was probably best that she didn't know. Everyone had a story after all.

"I am so sick of looking at this guy's face," Nick went on, ripping a poster of Jimmy Gibbs Jr. off the wall and crumpling it up in frustration, "He looks like an asshole."

"Jimmy Gibbs Jr. is the man," Ellis argued as he grabbed up the ruined poster, "If the laws of nature allowed it, I would have that man's children."

"God you're messed up."

"He's even more famous than Elvis," Coach went on, "Or the president."

"Scratch that, you're both messed up," the gambler said, "Rochelle, you and I are the only sane ones here, you know that right?"

"Just get in the elevator Nick," Rochelle said, taking his hand and pulling him towards it while Ellis and Coach shared their favourite Jimmy Gibbs Jr. story.

"Does anyone have any ideas for how we can get out of here?" she asked, once the doors of the elevator had slid shut, "If we just walk out of here I think it's safe to assume that those zombies will swarm us in a matter of seconds."

"She's got a point," Nick mused, "And since those C.E.D.A. bastards have abandoned us more than once we can't count on them for shit."

"Well, I got an idea," Ellis said.

"I'm probably gonna regret this, but go for it," Nick said. Ellis opened the poster that Nick had crumpled.

"Jimmy Gibbs Jr.," he said, "All we have to do is find his car that's supposed to be here, gas it up and I can drive our asses all the way to New Orleans."

"You're assuming there's gas around here," Nick pointed out. Ellis shrugged.

"Hey, you never know, and it's all we got right?"

"He's right," Rochelle said, "Let's just look around for some and get the hell out of here."

* * *

Rochelle was sure that she would never have to worry about dieting ever again. Whether it was from running up and down those stairs looking for gas cans, dodging the swipes of the swarming Infected, or carrying those damn cans, which seemed to weigh 50 pounds; she was twenty-nine and was now in better shape than any of her friends back home. However she would have taken a deep dish cheese pizza and a huge glass of coke and risk a heart attack than do this again.

"One more should do it guys!" Ellis called up to them from the car. He had been filling the tank as they brought him gas cans and keeping the zombies away from damaging their only means of escape.

'Finally,' she thought to herself. She ran across the landing and nearly tripped over the last can they needed.

"Got it!" she hollered. However, just as she bent down to pick it up, something thick and wet wrapped around her.

"Shit! No!" she screamed as the Smoker started to reel her towards him, "A Smoker's got me!"

"Hang on Rochelle!" Nick called as he started to race up the steps towards her. Coach was with him, limping slightly after a run in with a Hunter.

"Coach!" she gasped, "Get the can and give it to Ellis!"

"You got it."

Nick fired a few rounds of his shotgun at the Smoker, which thought twice about wanting Rochelle and released her. She peeled the nasty tongue off and struggled to get to her feet but a sudden wave of weakness hit her legs and she went back down. Nick took her by the arms and pulled her to her feet.

"I...we, need you to stick around for a little longer," he told her, "Come on."

"Thanks Nick, I owe you one."

"Damn right you do."

With his help, they hurried back down the stairs just as Ellis finished pouring the final can of gas into the tank.

"Okay, we're good, let's haul ass!"

Just as he said that Coach tackled the mechanic to the ground and Nick did the same with Rochelle. They were lucky as they were just missed by a huge piece of the concrete floor.

"Shit!" Ellis yelled, "Tank!"

Rochelle turned and felt her heart leap up into her throat. Sure enough, charging towards them was the big bastard himself, roaring and throwing any large piece of rock he could find at them.

"Get going!" Nick yelled as he pulled Rochelle up. He and Coach jumped into the back seat of the car while Ellis took the driver's seat. Rochelle moved as quickly as she could and got into the passenger's seat. She rolled down her window and shot at the Tank, hoping to slow it down enough to give Ellis time to start the car.

"Drive damn it, drive!" she heard Coach yell at Ellis.

"Okay, here we go, hang on!"

The car's engine suddenly roared to life and Ellis steered it towards the boarded up doors.

"Ellis!" Nick yelled.

"We're going through!" Ellis yelled, in more excitement than terror. Rochelle covered her face with her arms as they crashed through the doors. Splintering wood, shattering glass, blood and body parts splattered against the car before it hit the asphalt of the parking lot. Ellis threw it into the next gear and peeled out of there, the tires squealing.

"You crazy son of a bitch!" Nick yelled at him, "Are you trying to kill us!"

"It worked didn't it?" Ellis shouted back, "What? Did you want me to drive up the damn stairs or something?"

"Lord I thought we were done for," Coach interrupted them, patting Ellis and Nick on the shoulders, "You did good boys. You too Ro."

Rochelle didn't answer, she was still trying to calm her racing heart and settle the wave of nausea that had attacked her stomach. She leaned forward and tried to breathe deeply through it.

"Never again," she muttered when she felt a little better, "Let's not do that again, okay? Please?"

"Sure thing Ro," Ellis replied with a grin, "We'll drive this baby all the way to New Orleans, man, I feel like a super star just sitting in this thing!"

"I can't believe I'm sitting in Jimmy Gibbs Jr.'s car!" Coach added, "This is one amazing piece of machinery."

"You said it Coach," Ellis agreed.

* * *

While the novelty wore off for Coach after the first hour or so of driving, it didn't for Ellis. He was in his glory being in the car. While Rochelle could appreciate the whole 'kid in a candy store' routine he had going, Nick and Coach grew slightly annoyed with it. What did it for them was when Ellis decided to stick his head out of the open window and yell like a maniac.

"WOOHOO!" he hooted as loud as he possibly could. Rochelle just shook her head.

"Let me guess, you've always wanted to do that right?"

"Damn straight girl!" he said, "You give it a try."

"No thanks."

"Aww, come on Ro, its fun."

With that he stuck his head out of the window again and let out another yell.

"Okay we get it; you've hit your high point," Nick said, "Good for you."

Rochelle glanced at him and Coach in the back seat. She then rolled down her window and stuck her head out.

"HELL YEAH!" she screamed. Ellis laughed.

"There you go, that's how it's done!"

Rochelle settled back into her seat and heaved a huge sigh of relief.

"Okay, I admit, that was fun."

"Lord, give me patience," Coach muttered, even though she could still see a small smile on his face.

Rochelle glanced out the window, watching the road go by and suddenly wished that she didn't. Not only was there more bodies of infected people on the road but another bout of nausea hit her, this one worse than the first.

"Oh God," she muttered, covering her mouth with her hand.

"Ro?" Coach said, "You're not looking so good there little sister."

"Nice one Overalls," Nick said, "Your crappy driving made her car sick."

"There's nothing wrong with my driving!" Ellis said, looking back at Nick.

"Watch the road!" Coach yelled at him. Ellis turned to face the road.

"Shit!" he yelled, slamming on the brakes. Rochelle's stomach lurched again as the car came to a halt just behind a huge line up of abandoned cars. She quickly pulled off her seat belt and got out of the car. She ran to the side of the road, placed her hands on her knees and retched. Since her stomach was empty it was mostly dry heaving, either that or a lot of stomach acid and saliva that burned her throat and mouth.

"Shit," she groaned.

"You always get car sick?" Coach asked her, coming to her side and handing her a water bottle from his medical kit. She accepted it gratefully. Her first sip was to clean out her mouth and the second was to ease the burning in her throat.

"No," she replied, "Must have been seeing all that gore and shit."

"Right, take a minute to pull yourself together," he said.

"Thanks Coach."

Rochelle sat on the ground while Ellis, Nick and Coach went over what they should do next.

"We'll have to leave it here," Nick said.

"We can't do that!" Ellis said.

"Unless you can build a monster truck there's just no way we're going to get through all of these cars," the gambler shot back, "Looks like we're walking."

"Poor baby," Ellis said mournfully, patting the hood of the car.

"It'll be fine," Coach said, "I doubt a Jockey is gonna take it for a spin."

"Oh man, that would be funny shit," the mechanic said, "Completely wrong, but funny shit."

"Rochelle, you ready?" Nick called out to her. Rochelle wiped her mouth on the back of her arm, took a deep breath and got to her feet.

"Yeah, I'm good, let's go."

She took her share of the ammo, guns and medical kits and fell into step next to Ellis. He stayed close to her and she was grateful for that as she felt like she was about to fall over from exhaustion. Not to mention that raging nausea was still kicking her stomach around like it was a damn soccer ball. The sooner they found a safe room the happier she would be.

"Nearly there Ro," Ellis said, "Hey, if we cut through Whispering Oaks I'll get you a prize, how does that sound?"

"Just about as crazy as most of the stuff you say," she replied with a smile. Ellis laughed.

"I'm taking that as you want one."

* * *

**Winter-Rae:** Merry Christmas to all. I hope everyone is having a good holiday so far, no matter what you celebrate. I just celebrate Christmas so that's what I say to everyone. But if you celebrate something different feel free to say it! I'm going to try and write each chapter in a different character's point of view. This one was Rochelle's and the next one will be Nick's. Well, thanks for reading everyone, cheers!


	2. Chapter 2: Worrying

**Will There Be Tomorrow**

**Title:** Will There Be Tomorrow

**Summary:** When a mysterious illness starts affecting Rochelle and nearly killing her, the others are left to wonder; what caused it, will it get worse and will they be next?

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing!

**Pairings:** Ellis/Rochelle, some Rochelle/Nick

**Warnings:** Language, mature scenes, sexual situations, and character death. You have been warned.

**Winter-Rae:** Thank you so much everyone for your kind reviews. I had no idea people were going to enjoy this so much. I hope you all like the new chapter. And remember, this one is in Nick's point of view.

* * *

**Chapter 2: Worrying**

It took all of the willpower that Nick possessed to not scoff at Ellis' comment. Getting Rochelle a prize at the stupid amusement park they were travelling through seemed a stupid idea when they had other things to be worried about. Yet what bothered him even more was the fact that Rochelle hadn't told him not to bother with it, no, she actually encouraged it.

She didn't seem to see the sheer stupidity in detouring from their original plan to get to New Orleans, just so Ellis could show off and get her some souvenir? And what would it be a memory of? How they almost got killed trying to get it no doubt.

'I survived a zombie apocalypse and all I got was this lousy t-shirt,' he thought to himself, inwardly snickering at the idea.

"Hey look, there's a safe room in the Tunnel of Love," Coach said, "No hanky panky you two."

He glanced at Rochelle and Ellis when he said this, making Ellis blush and Rochelle smile. Nick on the other hand frowned.

What was this? A date?

God, the two of them seriously needed to grow up. But of course if he was the one to bring it up he would be seen as the bad guy. Rochelle would snap at him for hurting Ellis' feelings, Coach would get on his case about lightening up and Ellis would go on being his oblivious yet charming self. How the hell did that work?

Yes, he was slightly bitter towards Ellis, but as far as he was concerned he was doing a pretty decent job of holding back. He had become an expert at hiding how he really felt about people. That was most likely the reason why he was so bitter and annoyed when it came to the thing Ellis and Rochelle had going.

He wasn't jealous, no time for that, he was just pissed off. Why the hell did they deem it alright to even start a stupid relationship in the midst of all of this? Getting attached only made things harder. What if Ellis died? It would kill Rochelle and vice-versa. What if they had to leave someone behind? If they had to leave behind Ellis or else die? He was sure that Rochelle would make them wait for him, thus getting them all killed.

He doubted it very much that they would wait for him if he was getting swarmed. Naturally his first instinct would be to cut and run. You couldn't afford to be dragged down by others when it came to survival. But then again, he had stuck around with them for this long when his first plan had been to leave them as soon as they left the hotel.

Whatever.

They were just heading the same way he was. He had no attachments to any of them whatsoever.

Maybe he was making too big a deal out of this. Rochelle and Ellis had been very quiet about the events that had gone down at the apartment building a few nights ago. And thanks be to God they hadn't kissed or anything like that in front of him and Coach. That would be taking things way too far and his patience could only last for so long.

Nick had always hated displaying affection. Even when he was a child he hated getting hugged by his sister and would always push her away. Maybe it was this lack of compassion and affection that caused his wife to leave him ten years ago. He could certainly understand that and it did make some sense.

But she was a bitch and a cheating bitch at that. He had no interest in being affectionate, compassionate, or any other kind of 'ionnate' with someone who slept around behind his back.

So he bit his tongue and let Rochelle and Ellis banter back and forth. After all, what they did behind closed doors was none of his business. It only became his business when it affected his ability to stay alive and make it through this.

But that didn't stop him from getting some enjoyment out of teasing them about it whenever he could. He would talk about them getting to 'distracted' and then Coach would join in about needing a hose. While Ellis would blush and try to laugh it off, Rochelle would get annoyed with the both of them.

Getting a rise out of Rochelle was usually the highlight of Nick's day, as she was so fun to tease. But when she would poke back she always managed to hit just the right nerve that would piss him off and make the teasing no longer fun, but about seeing who could hit the lowest point the best and the fastest. That had happened a few times already but they usually always ended up apologizing for it and forgive each other.

Still, that must be a skill they taught all women in school. Yeah, he could see them taking the girls aside for 'How to Piss a Man off 101.' His ex must have gotten straight A's in that one.

"Take your time Rochelle," he said when he saw she was having a hard time keeping up, "We got all the time in the world. Stop and see the sights while you're at it. I hear this place has decent cotton candy if you can figure out the machine."

"Maybe I will smartass or even another go on the carousel," she said, walking slower just to tick him off, "And just look at that sky, it's so clear out tonight, I can see all of the stars. It's so nice."

"Very nice," Ellis said, catching on, "I could sit out here all night."

"Alright, alright, I get it," the gambler said, "Just hurry up will you."

"I'm coming" Rochelle replied, "That car ride still hasn't worn off."

Nick saw a look of concern cross Coach's face but the larger man said nothing. He just held the door open long enough for all of them to get in. Once they were safe inside he slammed it shut and with Ellis' help they shoved some crates against it.

Nick crossed over to Rochelle who was leaning against the wall with her hands on her knees.

"You're not gonna die on us are you?" he asked her. She glanced up at him and smirked.

"Aww, are you worried about me fancy face?"

"If I have to carry your incapacitated ass around only then will I worry," he replied.

"Well, no need to, I'm fine."

"Well that's good to hear," Coach said, "But this old man needs a couple hours, hope you kids don't mind."

"Course not Coach," Ellis said, "Gives me time to go and grab Rochelle a prize."

"Forget it Ellis," she said, sliding down to the floor, "Maybe another time."

She lent her head against the wall and within moments her slow breathing told them that she had fallen asleep.

"Well, I guess that means I'm up for the first watch," Ellis chirped, "Have a nice sleep old timers, and I'll call ya if I need ya."

The young mechanic then ventured out of the safe room to the Tunnel of Love. A few rounds went off, telling Nick he had killed a few zombies, but when it went quiet he felt himself relax slightly.

"Penny for your thoughts Nick," Coach spoke suddenly.

"What do you mean?"

"Before you looked pretty deep in thought, anything bothering you?"

"Everything," Nick replied, "This whole fucked up situation we've gotten ourselves into. You know I can actually sleep without the sounds of gunshots bothering me anymore?"

"Rochelle can too apparently," Coach said, nodding towards the sleeping woman.

"I used to wake up surprised or something," the gambler pointed out, "I might not be allowed to own a gun but I didn't really mind that. I hate the damn things. But now it's easy to sleep with Rochelle, you or Ellis firing rounds at night. That's gotta mean something Coach."

Coach nodded.

"Well, I suppose all soldiers just got used to hearing them over and over again," he said, "My old man was in Vietnam and he used to say that after awhile the gunshots just became background noise; like the crickets and frogs at night. Funny, those used to annoy him a lot more than anything else after he came home."

Nick heaved a sigh and then rubbed the back of his head. He then glanced at Rochelle as she moaned softly in her sleep.

"You notice it too?" Coach asked him.

"Notice what?"

"She's sick."

Nick arched an eyebrow.

"How the hell do you know that?"

"I'm a father of three," the man said, "I know when someone is faking being sick to get out of school, or faking being well cause they don't want to miss out on a night out with their friends. She's hiding something."

"Well that's stupid on her part then."

Coach chuckled.

"There you go again, acting like you don't give a damn."

"I don't."

"Whatever you say Nick, I'll pretend I believe that."

Nick glared at him.

"You act like you know me, when in reality none of you know shit."

Coach lent forward, lacing his fingers under his chin and studying Nick for a moment.

"Okay, let's see here," he mused, "Divorced, I'm guessing the wife left you for being a bit of a prick. You obviously have daddy issues because you get all defensive around me, an older gentleman who Rochelle and Ellis seem to look up to as a 'father figure'. Trust issues, that one was obvious. Zero sense of humour, seeing as though Ellis hasn't been able to make you crack a smile once. Oh, and you sir have some sort of feelings for Rochelle. So tell me, how did I do?"

Nick was amazed, but hid it well when he frowned.

"Fuck you, I don't need you to psycho-analyze me!"

"Shh, calm down," Coach told him, "I don't want you to wake her up."

"What makes you so damn sure you're even right?"

Coach chuckled.

"Wife used to make me watch Oprah with her, turns out you can learn a lot from that woman."

Nick was now desperate to shift the topic at hand towards Coach.

"Wife? Where is she now?" he asked. Coach sighed.

"Well, ex-wife now," he said, "Been divorce four years now."

"Why?"

"Mutual thing, we actually get along better now they we're separated, it was hard on the kids but they got over it. Wanna see them?"

Nick shrugged.

Coach reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He then tossed it to Nick who flipped it open. There wasn't any cash inside, but there were a lot of photos.

"First one is me and Erin," he said.

Nick had to admit, Coach had done well for himself marrying this Erin woman. She was very nice looking, a little on the plus size but she had a nice smile.

"Next one is the kids; Tiana is the one in purple, she's the oldest. Darius is my son and little VeNay is the baby...Hell, she ain't no baby anymore though, just turned 18 this year."

"Beautiful family Coach," Nick mused, tossing the wallet back, "Did they get out?"

Coach studied the picture of his family for a moment before speaking.

"Since this infection started, I thank God everyday that Erin decided to move to Oklahoma after we spilt, that's where her parents live and they're getting up there in years," he explained, "So she went to take care of them."

"What about the kids?"

"I sent Tiana to her mother and Darius called me awhile back to say he was going to meet them there. We...we lost track of VeNay, we have no idea where she is."

Nick instantly felt awful for even asking him to elaborate. He could only imagine what Coach might be going through right now. His daughter, his baby, might be somewhere out there in this shit and he didn't know. He glanced up to see Coach looking at the photos again.

"I'm sure she's fine Coach," he offered. The larger man wiped his face with his hands and replaced his wallet in his pocket.

"Well, I have no way of knowing," he said, "But I like to think that she's down in Oklahoma getting hell from her momma for not calling and letting her know she was okay."

Nick smiled slightly, but it faded quickly.

"I got a sister," he said, "Her name is Lizzy. I haven't talked to her in about four years."

"Why the hell not?" Coach asked, sounding annoyed.

"Because we got into a fight," he said, "Over something stupid too, I don't really remember what it was we were fighting about."

"So you haven't spoken to her, over a fight that you don't remember?"

"Pretty much."

"No wonder you're bitter boy, you're carrying around a lot of baggage."

Nick threw him a glare but then sighed.

"I've been thinking about her a lot lately," he admitted, "If I do live through this shit, I'm gonna go see her and her husband."

"You gotta do better than that Nick," Coach said, "Bring her flowers, and a real apology. Hell, she might even have kids by now."

Nick hadn't thought of that. Now that he did, he rather liked the idea of possibly being an uncle.

"I guess I better get through this then," he mused, "So then I can find out."

"Amen to that brother."

A silence fell over the two men and soon Coach's even breathing told Nick that he was asleep. Nick had to admit he felt a little better after speaking with him. Well, he felt better for himself but awful for Coach. He couldn't imagine losing someone close...well he could but he preferred not to think about it, if he could help it.

* * *

A few hours later Nick woke up to someone poking him in the shoulder. With his first instinct he swatted at the hand, trying to make it go away. However, whoever was doing it just chuckled at him and then went right back to poking him. Nick lifted his head.

"What?" he growled.

"Your shift on the watch Nick," Ellis replied. Nick got to his feet, yawned and stretched. Feeling some of the bones in his back and neck pop made him groan with relief. When he cracked his eyes open he saw Ellis grinning at him. Did the kid even know how to frown?

"Sleep well?" he asked.

"Yeah, I guess so," Nick replied.

"Good, it's pretty quiet out there, but holler if ya need me."

"Yeah, yeah."

Nick was about to leave when he saw Ellis move to lay next to Rochelle. She stirred slightly and moved closer to him, taking his arm and placing it over her.

"Hey Ellis," Nick whispered.

"Yeah Nick."

Nick was about to tell the mechanic to keep an eye on her, and about Coach's suspicions of her being sick, but he changed his mind. Knowing Ellis he would dote on Rochelle, putting a strain on their already shaky team. So he thought better of it and shook his head.

"Never mind."

"Okay...umm, Nick?"

"What?"

"There something wrong?"

"Hmm, let's see, where shall I start."

Ellis rolled his eyes.

"Okay, dumb question," he said, "I just heard you and Coach with raised voices a while ago. Just checking to make sure everything's still cool between you two."

Ellis' concern was innocent but it annoyed Nick. Why did he care what two grown men said to each other anyway? It had no relevance and was really none of his business. Still, Nick decided to try and give him and decent answer.

"It's fine," he said, "Nothing for you to worry about. Go to sleep already."

Without another word Nick left the safe room and started to venture around the Tunnel of Love. With any luck he'd find a few zombies to take out his frustrations on.

* * *

When Nick returned to give the next shift of the watch to Rochelle, he saw that she was already awake. She was pacing the floor and looked distressed about something.

"Rochelle?" he said.

"What time is it?" she asked, her voice sounding soft and far off. Nick arched an eyebrow at her, wondering why in the hell she wanted to know the time. The time of day or night hadn't mattered much to any of them these past couple weeks. If they were tired, they found a place to sleep for a few hours; if they were hungry they grabbed whatever they could get. Having a schedule in times like these just didn't make sense.

"No idea," he replied, "Early I'm guessing."

"Oh, that's okay, we still have time then."

Nick shook his head as if trying to understand what the hell she was going on about.

"Rochelle? What the hell is wrong with you?" he asked her.

"Huh? Nothing, why you ask?"

He walked over to her and placed his hand on her forehead.

"Ah shit, you've got a fever," he said. She angrily smacked his hand away.

"It's hot out dumbass," she snapped, "Don't touch me!"

Nick recoiled at her hostile attitude towards him. What was her problem? She never acted like that with any of them before. She then brushed past him, stumbling slightly.

"Sorry," she said to him, "I'm just tired, shit this sucks."

Her hand went up to her forehead and she let out a sigh.

"Damn it."

Nick hurried over to her and caught her as she staggered. She glanced up at him, her eyes looked glazed, an after effect of pain pills or maybe adrenaline, somehow Nick doubted it. There was something wrong with her, something really wrong.

"Sit down;" he told her, "I'm going to find you some water."

She didn't argue with him and allowed him to lead her to a chair. He then quickly looked around the safe room until he found a bottle of water. He opened it and handed it to her. She took a sip of it and handed it back to him.

"Thanks."

"You need more than that," he told her.

"You guys need some too."

"We're not sick."

"I'm not sick Nicolas!" she snapped. There she went calling him by his full name again. Something he had learned meant she was truly pissed off at him and he better stop whatever he was doing to bother her. But he was sure something was wrong and he wasn't going to let it go.

"Rochelle," he said seriously, "You have to tell us if something is wrong. The last thing we need is for you to die on us or something."

"Why? Cause then you won't have anyone to repopulate the earth with?" she shot back.

"Ouch," he mused, "Did I say that?"

"In passing," she replied, "When we all first met up."

Nick chuckled.

"Not one of my more flattering moments I suppose."

"You can be such an ass sometimes," she muttered, "To me, to Coach and to Ellis."

She just had to bring up the kid again.

"What do you want from me?" he asked her, "You want us all to hold hands and sing a song."

"No, I just want...I don't know what I want."

She then brushed past him to go and take over the watch. His gaze followed after her and he saw every stumble and unsure step she took. She had to place her hand on the wall in order to make sure she didn't fall over. Nick heaved a sigh and moved to walk next to her.

"Rochelle," he said.

"Give me a minute," she told him, "I need to get the camera for Phil; he'll be on the air soon."

Alarmed, Nick grasped her by the shoulders and made her look at him.

"Rochelle," he said loudly, "I need you to look at me, come on, focus."

She looked him in the eyes, blinked quickly and then shook her head.

"Let me go!" she snapped, jerking away from him, tripping over her own feet in the process and falling to the floor.

"What's all the noise?"

Nick turned to see that Coach and Ellis had woken up. The gambler could only imagine how this must look to them.

"It's nothing," Rochelle said quickly, "I tripped."

"But, you yelled," Ellis said, hurrying to her side and helping her up.

"Never mind," she told him, "Nick just surprised me, thought it might have been a Smoker."

Nick felt his anger flare up. She was sick, she damn well knew it and here she was acting like everything was all-fucking-right!

He turned towards Coach.

"Remember what you said," he muttered to him so only he could hear, "About her being sick."

"Yeah."

"You're right, and whatever it is, it's getting a hell of a lot worse."

Coach nodded.

"Okay, since we're all up," he said, trying to make light of the situation but Nick sensed the urgency in his voice, "I guess we could get going. I got me an idea on how to get us out of here anyhow."

"Sounds good Coach," Ellis said, ready to go as always, "What were you thinking?"

"We gotta get to the stadium and set up the light and fireworks that the Midnight Riders were gonna use for their show," the larger man explained as they gathered up their guns and medical kits, "That will signal any choppers that might be flying around here. And there you go, our ticket out of here."

"So we have to set up to rock, and then fight zombies?" Ellis asked and when Coach nodded, he added happily, "This is the best day of my life!"

Nick rolled his eyes and then handed Rochelle two of the pain pills from the bottle he had been carrying, he also shoved an adrenaline needle onto her pocket.

"Take those now," he said, shoving the bottle of water into her hand, "You wanna keep up this act that's your problem but you're not going to slow us down."

Rochelle looked about ready to hit him, but instead she did as he told her; downing the pills and taking a healthy drink from the bottle.

"Don't you worry about me Nicholas," she said, "I can keep up just fine."

"We'll see about that when shit really hits the fan," he replied, then turning to the other two he added, "Let's get the hell out of here."

* * *

This was a bad idea Nick had decided the moment he saw the huge stadium after fighting their way to it. He could already visualize thousands of zombies pouring over the walls, a Tank throwing huge pieces of the concrete at them, a Smoker lynching them from the rafters, a Charger smashing them into the stage floor; oh yeah it was a great visual. Still the others seemed determined to make it work, and the helicopter they had been hearing overhead gave them even more reason to believe that Coach's plan would work.

"Every lady's crazy when her daddy's not around," Ellis started to sing into the microphone.

"Knock it off Ellis!" Nick barked.

"Sorry man, I've just always wanted to try that."

"Whatever! And Rochelle, what the hell are you doing?" the gambler demanded. She had picked up a few boxes of the fireworks and was placing them at the ramps of the stage.

"Keeping up," she replied stiffly.

"Oh I get it," Ellis said, "We shoot those things when the zombies get too close and it burns the shit out of them! Good idea Ro."

"Thank you Ellis."

Coach patted her on the back.

"Nice to see you thinking clearly again Rochelle," Nick heard him whisper to her. Rochelle opened her mouth to reply but Ellis had once again started to mess around with the microphone so she didn't get a chance.

"You ready to tell us what's going on with you yet?" Nick asked her, he kept his tone as calm as possible. Rochelle heaved a sigh.

"If I knew what was wrong with me I'd tell you right away," she said, "But I have no idea. I started feeling like this just before we made it out of the mall."

Nick nodded.

"Don't give me that look," she said.

"What look?"

"A look that says 'she's crazy.'"

"I don't think you're crazy Rochelle," he said, "We're worried."

"Keep it quiet please; I don't want Ellis to know."

"Why the hell do you care about him so much?"

She tossed him a glare.

"My personal life is hardly your business."

"Not what I meant," he said, "If he means so much, you should be honest with him shouldn't you? If you think babying him and hiding the fact that you're dead on your feet is going to help him, well, I doubt it."

"This coming from the one who keeps saying he's a useless kid."

Nick had no reply to that, but when Rochelle started to rub her temples he took that as a sign that she was done talking about it for now.

"All I can think about is that maybe I'm not as immune as I thought I was," she muttered. She then took Nick by the elbow and guided him away from Coach and Ellis; they were getting ready to turn on both the lights of the stage and the music.

"If I start to become like...like those things, you cannot let me hurt Coach, Ellis or you," she said to him, a note of desperation in her voice. Nick jerked his arm out of her grasp.

"Fuck you," he said to her, "How dare you even ask me to do that. Who do you think you are?"

"Nick, please," she begged, "I'm already scared out of my mind, I need to know that you'll save them from me if it happens."

"It's not going to happen," he said, "You're immune, like the rest of us."

"I'm not so sure," she said, wrapping her arms around herself, "I just can't deal with the idea that I might hurt one of you."

Nick saw the hurt in her eyes and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"If something does happen, I'll wait until I'm 100 percent sure," he said, "And if it comes to it, I'll stop you, you have my word."

She glanced up at him, looking relieved.

"Thank you."

He held her gaze for a moment, wishing there was something else in her eyes and found himself searching for it. However, when Ellis hurried to tell them they were ready, he saw what he was looking for, too bad that look was only for Ellis.

* * *

"Man! This music kicks ass!" Ellis shouted as they flipped the switch to play the Midnight Riders. Nick would have to disagree, but as they fought the hordes that rushed at them because of the noise, he didn't really listen to the music. He was too distracted with thinking of the request Rochelle made of him.

Could he really do it? A part of him let out a resounding yes while the rest of him doubted it. If she was starting to become a zombie didn't that mean that they weren't too far behind her?

"The chopper heard us!" Coach yelled over the music, "Let's go!"

He grabbed Rochelle's hand and they started to make their way to the helicopter. Nick and Ellis were close behind. No time to think of worst case scenarios now.

* * *

**Winter-Rae:** Writing Nick in denial is so fun. I'm trying to get across his jealousy and bitterness, but he's also having a hard time dealing with how he feels. He also thinks that if he's not attached to the others then they aren't attached to him either. I hope I got that across for you guys, I'm not that great at getting inside some character's heads. And Nick is difficult. Anyway! Thanks for reading everyone. Cheers!


	3. Chapter 3: Seizing

**Will There Be Tomorrow**

**Title:** Will There Be Tomorrow

**Summary:** When a mysterious illness starts affecting Rochelle and nearly killing her, the others are left to wonder; what caused it, will it get worse and will they be next?

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing!

**Pairings:** Ellis/Rochelle, some Rochelle/Nick

**Warnings:** Language, mature scenes, sexual situations, and character death. You have been warned.

**Winter-Rae:** Well, it is official, I fail at life. I couldn't get this chapter just in Ellis' point of view; I had to throw some of Coach's in as well. I hope you guys don't mind that. It's pretty obvious to when I switch though, so I hope no one gets confused. Enjoy.

* * *

**Chapter 3: Seizing**

"Hey thanks man!" Ellis said to the pilot of the helicopter, "You really saved our asses."

"Not a problem," the pilot replied, "Been flyin' around all day trying to find some folks to help out. Call me Danny, where ya'll headed.

"Nice to meet ya Danny, name's Ellis, and we're making our way to New Orleans," the mechanic explained, "We saw it's the last place where there's an evacuation going on."

"Makes sense to me and I can get you about halfway there; not enough fuel to go all the way."

"Better than nothing Danny, thanks!"

Ellis then moved to sit back with Rochelle, Nick and Coach. The three of them were patching up their wounds from the previous fight.

"I don't know about ya'll but I think that was probably the greatest thing we've done yet."

"Leave it to you to make the best of a bad situation boy," Coach mused, "I gotta admit though, I wish I would grabbed one of the Midnight Riders' guitars for a souvenir."

Ellis laughed and then nodded.

"That would have been really cool Coach."

"I'm just glad we got out of there," Rochelle pointed out, "That was too close."

Ellis patted her knee.

"Those fireworks were a great idea Ro," he said. She smiled.

"Thanks, momma used to tell me not to mess around with those things, but I admit I was a bit of a pyro when I was a kid."

"No shit, me too."

"That how your friend Keith got some of his burns?" she teased. He let out a laugh.

"Nope, I had nothing to do with it; he gets himself into all sorts of trouble all on his own."

The young man then went quiet as he thought about his best friend. He and Keith had gotten separated trying to get out of their home town as the infection spread. Ellis certainly hoped that Keith had made it out okay and that he hadn't become one of those sons-a-bitches.

Rochelle reached out and brushed her fingers across his cheek.

"Hey," she said, "Where were you just now?"

"Hmm? Oh, just thinking about home," he said. A sad smile crossed her face and the conversation died. All that could be heard was the sound of the helicopter as it flew.

Ellis watched as Rochelle pulled her knees to her chest and rested her head of them. She looked tired again and Ellis couldn't help but notice the worried looks that Coach and even Nick tossed in her direction.

Was something going on that he was missing? Was there something they weren't telling him? He hoped not. After all, he had seen just as much as they did, didn't that make him able to handle things alright? Sure he was the youngest of the group but that shouldn't mean that they could keep important things from him.

He made a mental note to get Rochelle alone for a few moments to talk to her about it. Maybe if he pressed her enough she'd tell him what was going on. Of course if they disappeared together for too long he'd never hear the end of it from Nick. He didn't know why the gambler found it amusing to tease like he did. He and Rochelle hadn't even discussed the possibility of a relationship after their night together. While he wanted too, he also knew that it wasn't the time. So for now he was happy to just be near her when he could.

He reached out and placed his hand on her back, rubbing it lightly. She glanced at him and smiled appreciatively.

"Thanks."

"Any...whoa! Shit!"

The helicopter had just jerked violently to the left, surprising them all.

"Shit man!" he said to the pilot, "What was that?"

"Hang on to something," Nick told them, "Hey Danny, are you trying to kill us or something?"

The pilot turned to face them, saliva dripping down his face with a hungry look in his eyes.

"Oh shit!" Coach said as Danny leapt out of his seat and grabbed Nick by the throat. Rochelle jumped into the pilot's seat and grabbed the steering handle.

"Guys!" she yelled, "What do I do!"

"Keep it steady," Coach called to her.

Nick pulled out his gun and fired a few rounds into Danny's face; he dropped violently, just as the helicopter did.

"Hang on!" Rochelle screamed. Ellis grabbed onto the seat and squeezed his eyes closed. Hell, he liked roller coasters as much as the next fella, but this was a little too much. Rochelle seemed to gain some sort of control over the helicopter but she couldn't keep it in the air. It hit the ground roughly and flipped over once before coming to a stop.

Ellis groaned and flexed his fingers and toes, hoping he hadn't hurt himself too badly.

"Is everyone alive?" he heard Nick call out, "Rochelle? Coach? Ellis?"

"I'm good," Coach said as he kicked at the sliding door of the helicopter, trying to get it open, "Help me out with this Nick, the damn thing is stuck."

"I'm okay too," Ellis chirped, "Ro?"

"I've been better."

He reached around to offer her his hand and she grasped it tightly.

"Take it easy there girl," he said to her, helping her up, "No rush."

Rochelle tripped but Ellis caught her and managed to fall against the door, which then decided to slide open, causing them to tumble out of the helicopter; Rochelle on top of him.

"You okay?" she asked him.

"Yep, thanks to you landing that thing so well," he said, "I didn't know you knew how to fly?"

"I don't," she said, "That was just luck; I guess something decided to break our way after all."

"Guess so."

They held each other's gaze for a moment before Coach cleared his throat.

"Get a room you two," Nick muttered darkly.

"You know Nick," Ellis mused, "Jealously really doesn't suit you."

A very uncomfortable silence fell over the four of them as Coach helped Rochelle to her feet. Nick was staring at Ellis as if he had just challenged him to a fight; he certainly looked ready to hit something.

"Stupid Goddamn kid," he said, starting towards Ellis. Coach stepped between them a dark look in his eyes.

"Knock it off," he said. Ellis, who wasn't scared of Nick and his tough guy act, wasn't through with him just yet.

"And what the hell, you shot the pilot!" he said, "You could have killed us all!"

"He was a zombie Ellis!" Nick reminded him, "Or did you forget already."

"I didn't forget nothing."

"He wasn't doing a very good job of being a pilot when he tried to attack me."

"Nick, Ellis, stop it," Coach said, growing angry, "This isn't helping us any."

"He's the one being a dumbshit!" Nick muttered at the same time Ellis said, "He started it."

"Oh my God! Do I need to get the measuring tape?" Rochelle suddenly snapped angrily at them. Both Nick and Ellis looked as if she had slapped them. She shoved past them and picked up one of their medical kits as well as her pistols.

"Grow the hell up, both of you," she said, "Let's go."

"What's with you?" Nick demanded.

"I'm sick of you two always at each other," she said, "Stop it, if you don't, so help me God I'll shove a pipe bomb up both your asses sideways!"

With that said, she turned on her heel and started to walk away from them. She was a good ten feet in front of them before she dropped her guns, gripping her stomach in pain. She fell to her knees retching and coughing.

"Ro!"

Coach dropped to his knees next to her, a look of concern on his face. He looked around at the small houses that were around them in the swamp they had landed in.

"Check those houses," he said to Ellis and Nick, "See if they have any supplies we might need."

Ellis nodded and hurried off with Nick following close behind.

"Gettin' worse," Nick muttered. Ellis glanced at him.

"What do you mean?"

"She's sick Ellis, or haven't you noticed?"

Ellis felt both a flare of anger as well as a pang of hurt.

"I-I knew something was up," he said rummaging through a box in one of the houses, "I just didn't know what. Do you know what's the matter with her?"

Nick shrugged.

"I'm not a kid you know! And I have a right to know what's going on just as much as the rest of you! Stop keeping me in the dark!"

"Relax Overalls; she doesn't even know what the hell is wrong with her either."

Ellis found a bottle of pain pills but had no luck finding any water. Nick pocketed a few adrenaline shots but also came up empty handed on the water.

"It is bad?" Ellis asked.

Nick shrugged again.

"What were you two talking about at the stage?" the mechanic demanded.

"You don't want to know."

"Tell me God damn you."

Nick threw him a warning glance but Ellis refused to back down. When Nick tried to walk away from him, he grabbed the gambler's arm and gripped it tightly. Nick shoved him off.

"This suit cost more than your whole house kid," he growled.

"Tell me what you two were talking about."

"No."

Nick then turned away from him and started to walk back to where Coach and Rochelle were. Ellis clenched his fists and followed, feeling both hurt and angry that they wouldn't tell him what was going on. He cared a lot about Rochelle and wanted her to be alright, and he wanted to take care of her if he could. But how could he do that without knowing anything.

"No water around here," he heard Nick say to Coach.

"It's fine," Coach said, "There might be a safe house around here anyway, there's bound to be some water in there. Can you make it Ro?"

"Just give me a minute," she said, "I keep slowing you guys down, sorry."

"Nothing to be sorry for," Ellis insisted, coming up beside her and offering a smile which he hoped looked real; as of right now he felt like doing anything but smiling. He held out his hand to her which she took and squeezed for a moment.

"Thanks sweetie."

"Anytime Ro."

He held onto her hand for a few moments as they walked, but soon defending themselves from more Infected became priority. Ellis tried to maintain his gung-ho attitude but with worrying about Rochelle, making sure that they didn't get separated, and trying to fight off the mud men, it was proving to be very difficult.

His distraction proved to be a huge mistake on his part, as he was being overwhelmed by the Mudders and was soon dragged beneath the surface of the water.

* * *

'Shit, shit, shit,' that was Coach's mantra as he swam through the murky water in search of Ellis. He, Nick and Rochelle had managed to clear out the Infected but not before Ellis had been dragged under the water. Coach surfaced to take another huge breath of air before continuing his search. He could hear Rochelle's near hysterical cries and that only added to his worry. If she got upset she'd make herself sick again and they couldn't afford to lose her or Ellis.

Coach bumped into something and was nearly startled out of his wits, thinking it was another Mudder to drag him to his death. However, he saw a glimpse of a yellow shirt and knew he had finally found Ellis. He wrapped his arms around him and hauled him to the surface, silently thanking his dad for making him learn how to swim in the first place.

Once they got Ellis to shore Coach picked him up, with strength he forgot he had, and carried him to the nearest safe house; where he and Rochelle patched him up.

That night was going to be a long one, he just knew it. Nick and Rochelle were at odds again and none of them were sleeping; which Coach just hated. They needed sleep; if they didn't get the small amounts they had been getting that would only leave room for them to make mistakes later on. And making mistakes often meant that someone could get hurt or killed.

Coach didn't want to bother himself with Nick's bad attitude about the current situation. He was most worried about Ellis waking up and Rochelle getting rest. However, when he saw that heartbroken look in her eyes when she said she had to stay up until Ellis woke, he knew there would be no sleep for her tonight. So he didn't argue with her, all he could do was stay up with them.

However, the tension and grief in the room was just too much for him to handle. He quickly said that he would take the first watch and exited the safe house.

He paced, that was really all he could do in a time like this. It was what he did when he was stressed, worried, angry, annoyed; it was safe to say that the only time he didn't pace was when things were alright in the world.

'Shit, things sure don't seem like they'll be alright ever again,' he thought to himself, 'People dying, good kids getting hurt, families ripped apart. How many mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers, sons and daughters have we killed to get this far?'

He cringed at the dark thought.

Coach knew there had to be a level of separation in a situation like this; he couldn't look at those people as people. He had to see them as Infected; monsters who would kill them without a second's hesitation if they let their guard down.

How had it come to this?

Coach had always considered himself to be a decent praying man, but lately he had been questioning his faith. Had humanity really been that awful to have God send down this disease on them? Somehow he couldn't bring himself to believe that. He had to have faith that things would work out alright. Blaming God certainly wouldn't help them any; and he had been raised better than that.

'Lord,' he prayed silently, 'Just a little help, that's all I'm asking for. Let us get through this alright, protect our families too.'

He heaved a sigh and once again pulled his wallet out of his pocket. He ran his fingers over the pictures of his family, missing them terribly and hoping they were all okay, wherever they were. He couldn't bare the idea that he lost one of them. Even though he couldn't be there to protect him he knew that if any of them got hurt he would blame himself.

The only comfort he could find was that he knew Erin, Darius and Tiana were safe. They were in Oklahoma and they wouldn't have left. That only left little VeNay.

Coach's heart ached when he thought of his youngest daughter. In the back of his mind there was a nagging suspicion that she hadn't made it out of Georgia in time and that she was either infected, or already dead. If that was indeed the case he would make it his life mission to make sure every last one of these zombie son of a bitches were dead.

Looking back on his life for a moment Coach found it hard to believe that he had actually made it as long as he did. He certainly wasn't in the best shape anymore; years of being married to a woman who was the best damn cook on the planet, as well as no longer training would do that to a man. Yet here he was, keeping up with a kid half his age.

'Doing better than him at the moment,' he thought bitterly. Truth be told, Coach would willingly trade spots with Ellis if he could. Hell, he'd even take on whatever was affecting Rochelle if it meant that they would be okay. He had always hated seeing people hurt, it went back to being a daddy and how he always felt ill when his kids got hurt.

He remembered the day Tiana fell off her bicycle and scraped her knee. She cried at if she had broken a leg, ever the drama queen she was. Still, that didn't stop him from scooping her up in his arms and bringing her inside to put a bandage on the scrape and to kiss it better for her. After that she got back up onto that bicycle and was riding it like a pro a few hours later.

Then there was the day that Darius came home with a bloody nose and a split lip. He had gotten into a fight with a bully who had been picking on one of the boys in his class, just because he was smaller than him. Coach had been proud of him for standing up for those who couldn't and wasn't too proud to show his son how to properly punch someone. Darius had been suspended the next day but the bully didn't bother anyone ever again after that. Coach thought it was a lesson well learned.

And then the time that VeNay, a slight troublemaker she could be, had snuck out of the house one night to go out with some friends. He had stayed up until 3:30 in the morning when she decided to try and sneak back into the house. While she hadn't been hurt and had been with friends the whole time, it was that 'what if' factor that bothered him the most. If she had been hurt, he never would have known and thus wouldn't have been able to help her.

Just like now, wherever she was he wasn't and he couldn't help her.

'I still got a purpose,' he thought to himself, 'I got three other people to look after now and two of them aren't doing well. One thing at a time, get them through this shit and then find VeNay.'

He lent against the wall by the door and lowered himself to the ground. Inside, he could hear Nick speaking to Rochelle, telling her a bit about himself. As he listened, Coach sighed. It was about time Nick opened up a little, maybe he was learning to trust them after all.

* * *

The next thing Coach knew, Ellis was up and calling for them, seeming to be relieved they were okay, even though he was the one who had been in danger this whole time. He mentally kicked himself for dozing off and hoped that it hadn't been for long. But he was also feeling relieved that Ellis had made it through the night and looked almost back to normal. Even Rochelle and Nick looked brighter, even though they were both exhausted.

'Thank God we're alright,' Coach thought to himself when it was silently decided that they would stay here for another day. They all needed to catch up on their sleep or else the zombies would surely finish them off without any problems. He double checked to make sure the door was bolted shut before he sat down. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Rochelle and Ellis move close together. He smiled.

They'd be alright; at least, that's what he hoped.

* * *

When Ellis finally got to his feet a few hours later and stretched, he winced at how sore his muscles felt. Those Mudders must have really done a number on him. He lifted up his shirt and saw the bandages over his chest. Frowning, he removed the shirt altogether and then the bandages so he could change them and put fresh ones on.

He grabbed a medical kit and started to lay out the contents on the table. He tried to be quiet so to let the others continue sleeping. Nick's snore could be heard near the door, Coach's deep breathing, and Rochelle's occasional whimper.

He glanced at them, feeling an intense sense of gratitude for each of them. Not only had they stayed up all night with him but, they had all stuck together even though he and Rochelle weren't doing all that well. It really said a lot about their characters in his opinion.

"Ellis?"

He glanced over to see Rochelle had woken with a start and seemed to be looking for him. He placed his hand on her shoulder, making her jump.

"Hey, I'm still here."

She glanced up at him, her eyes going right to the marks on his chest.

"Here, let me do that," she said, slowly standing up.

"You don't have to Ro, get some sleep."

"I'm fine; I've had enough of sleeping anyway."

She then started to dab at the wounds with rubbing alcohol to clean them. Ellis winced each time, somehow he'd never get used to the jolts of pain that stuff provided. While he wasn't going to complain since now he had a chance to speak with Rochelle. As she started to place some gauze over the wounds on his chest he squared his shoulders and took her hands in his.

"Ro, will you tell me what's wrong?" he asked her.

"There's nothing wrong Ellis," she whispered, "Aside from you being hurt and us being in this grim situation."

"That's not what I meant, are you sick?"

Rochelle heaved a deep breath and looked him in the eyes.

"I don't know, I have no idea what's going on," she said, "I just have been feeling off and tired a lot lately. Trust me, if I knew what the hell this was I would have said something."

Glad he was getting some answers from her, he decided to ask what was really on his mind.

"Okay, what were you and Nick talking about before then, at the stage?"

A look of panic crossed Rochelle's face. Tears filled her eyes and she lent her head on his shoulder, careful to avoid the marks left by the Mudders.

"Please don't ask me that," she begged quietly, "Please."

Seeing how distressed the topic made her and against his better judgement, he dropped it. He hugged her and kissed her forehead. She took a few deep breaths and then went back to bandaging the Mudder wounds.

"You'll tell me if you need help though right?" he asked her.

"If you want me too," she said after sighing.

"Course I do."

"Then I will."

* * *

Making their way through the swamp had been hard going, especially with the mud men creeping up on them. But for the most part they made it through without any huge incidents.

Ellis was moving just fine, although he was still sore. Rochelle seemed to be keeping up fine as well. Nick and Coach had to take on a little more work but neither of them complained. Nick did seem a little more quiet that usual but Ellis chalked it up to Rochelle yelling at them and threatening them with pipe bombs the previous day.

After making it to the plantation house Ellis was starting to feel even better. They had actually made contact with another human being. His name was Virgil, and to Ellis he sounded like one of those crazy Raging' Cajuns. But hell, he was welcoming the idea of more people surviving this shit. All they had to do was wait for Virgil to pick them up in his boat, now that sounded easy enough, until a huge swarm of Infected, accompanied by a Tank decided to come after them.

"Oh shit!" Nick yelled as he had been the first one to spot the Tank, "Shoot the Tank! Get the hell out of the house."

They had been at the top floor of the plantation house and Ellis knew that if that Tank got a good enough swing at them, they'd go flying off of the house and be killed instantly. He wasn't planning on dying here today so he followed after Nick and ran down the stairs with Rochelle and Coach not too far behind.

When they had made it out the front doors, they were greeted by a very nasty surprise. Waiting for them, was a second Tank.

"You've got to be shitting me!" Rochelle cried, "Shoot the shit out of that thing!"

She and Nick started to shoot at the one still in the house while Ellis and Coach went after the one outside it.

* * *

Ellis and Coach were better off than Rochelle and Nick as they were able to light their Tank on fire with a well aimed Molotov. They then back tracked to help their two friends. When they finally reached them, the scene was grim.

The Tank had knocked Nick against a wall and had him cornered and Rochelle was already down.

"Get her out of here!" Nick shouted at them. Coach ran to help Nick while Ellis hurried to Rochelle. She was unconscious but seemed to be breathing alright. He shook her gently trying to rouse her.

"She shoved me out of the way," Nick muttered to Coach as he helped him up after finally killing the Tank, "I told her to leave but she didn't fucking listen to me!"

"Guys!" Ellis yelled for them, "Something's wrong!"

They hurried to the mechanic and saw that Rochelle's entire body was shaking.

"Oh shit," Coach said, "She's seizing!"

"What?"

"She's having a seizure, roll her on her side."

Ellis did as Coach told him and struggled to be calm. Seeing Rochelle like this was terrifying for him. Her whole body twitched and jerked violently and her jaw was clenched so tightly he could see the muscles in her neck and throat flex.

"What do we do?"

"Just wait," Coach said, "We can't move her until this thing is over."

Nick glanced outside just as the gate to the plantation was blown up and Virgil's voice could be heard over an intercom.

"Hurry and get to the boat now!" he called.

"Oh shit," Nick said, "That's our ride."

"Damn it," Coach muttered, "Come on Ro, hang in there girl."

By some miracle, Rochelle's body stopped jerking and she went still, her breathing coming out in gasps.

"There we go," Coach said gently, "You're okay, Rochelle, can you hear me?"

"Mmhmm," she replied, nodding slightly, "Nick?"

"He's okay, so is Ellis."

"You?"

Coach chuckled.

"I'm alright too; it's you we're worried about."

Rochelle didn't say anything. If anything she was far too exhausted from her attack to do much of anything. She just lay there, looking helpless and pitiful.

"Come on now little sister," Coach said as he helped her to sit up, "You're gonna be okay."

"Here," Nick muttered, holding out his jacket to the larger man, "Wrap this around her."

"Mighty decent of you Nick," Coach replied as he took the jacket and placed it around Rochelle's shoulders. The gambler just shrugged.

"Just make sure she doesn't get blood on it, now let's get the hell out of here already."

"Coach, I can get her," Ellis said quietly. He lifted Rochelle up into his arms and started to carefully walk with her.

"You sure boy?" Coach asked, "You're pretty shaky yourself, let me take her."

Ellis was about to argue but knew better. He could hardly stand up and if Rochelle seized again they would both go down, possibly hurting her even more. So he allowed Coach to carry Rochelle while he and Nick walked on either side of them, keeping an eye out for zombies.

Virgil continued to call to them from his boat and once they made it aboard he quickly sped away, leaving a huge horde screaming after them.

Ellis felt sick. Seeing Rochelle so hurt like this was killing him. Was this how she had felt when he had fallen ill in the swamp? Somehow he was sure it was very similar. What was wrong with her? If she had been hurting, why hadn't she said anything to them before? Did she think they wouldn't wait for her? That they would leave her behind? There was no way.

He cast a glance at her and shuddered. She somehow looked thinner than she did before. Was that even possible? Or were his exhausted eyes playing tricks on him? He wanted her to maybe demand that Coach put her down so she could walk on her own, that would be something she would do. Of course it would be more because she didn't want to be a burden to anyone.

Coach gently set Rochelle down and observed her for a moment, a grim expression on his face, Ellis could tell that this was serious, no time for light hearted banter right now. So he sat next to her and pulled her close, she didn't resist him and somehow he was sure she couldn't.

He glanced up at Nick with the same question on their minds, just how sick was Rochelle? And if this was contagious, just how long would it be before they became ill as well?

* * *

**Winter-Rae:** Next chapter will probably be in Rochelle, Nick and Ellis' point of view, just to get an idea of what they are all feeling and such. I hope you all enjoyed this one. Thanks for reading everyone, oh, and for the people who want to leave anonymous reviews, go right ahead, I changed the settings to I can get them now. Cheers!


	4. Chapter 4: Meeting

**Will There Be Tomorrow**

**Title:** Will There Be Tomorrow

**Summary:** When a mysterious illness starts affecting Rochelle and nearly killing her, the others are left to wonder; what caused it, will it get worse and will they be next?

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing!

**Pairings:** Ellis/Rochelle, some Rochelle/Nick

**Warnings:** Language, mature scenes, sexual situations, and character death. You have been warned.

**Winter-Rae:** I usually am never this fast to update. I have just been writing like a mad woman when it comes to this story. I really like it and I hope you all are too. So enjoy the new chapter it's in Rochelle, Ellis and Nick's point of view so it was interesting to write.

* * *

**Chapter 4: Meeting**

Rochelle slumped against Ellis feeling like complete and utter shit. She couldn't even remember a time she felt so awful before in her whole life. She had nothing to compare this too. Every time she had the flu combined probably wouldn't even feel this bad. Why was she so sore? And where did this sudden bout of exhaustion come from anyway?

"Ellis, what happened?" she asked, not really expecting him to provide any answers for her. He didn't feel the way she did after all.

"You had a seizure," he told her, sounding surprised that she didn't realize that, but relieved to hear her voice, "After you tried to help Nick and the Tank hit you."

Rochelle shuddered.

A seizure? Didn't that only happen when something was seriously wrong? At least it explained why she was feeling like this right now. She felt like she had just run three marathons, one right after the other.

"Ro, are you epileptic?" Coach asked her, a seriously tone in his voice.

"No," she replied, shaking her head, "That's never happened to me before."

She pulled Nick's jacket tighter around herself and glanced up at him.

"Thanks," she said, "You want this back now?"

He shrugged.

"Whenever you're done with it, just don't ruin it."

"I'll try not to."

"Well hullo there."

The four looked up as Virgil jumped down from the helm's cabin to greet them. He was an older gentleman; in his fifties was what Rochelle guessed. He was wearing a simple white t-shirt and a pair of dirty jeans. Rochelle couldn't help but notice that the stains on them looked an awful lot like blood, but she decided against bringing it up. Virgil seemed decent enough and he had just put his life in jeopardy to save them all.

"I told that young fella on the radio how good it was to hear another somebody," he said, "Who was that anyhow?"

"Me," Nick said, "Name's Nick."

"You can call me Coach."

"I'm Ellis, and this here is Rochelle."

"Nice to meet all of ya."

"Thanks for coming to get us Virgil," Coach said, "We really can't thank you enough."

Virgil waved him off.

"Anyone decent person woulda done the same son," he said, "I've just dropped the anchor so now I can rustle up some food for ya'll. Must be starving right?"

Food actually sounded good to Rochelle right about now. Maybe getting a little something into her stomach would settle it for a little while. She was willing to try anything to get rid of this awful feeling that had settled over her.

"Actually," Coach said, "You wouldn't have any pain medication would you?"

Virgil arched an eyebrow.

"Someone sick?"

Coach shook his head and glanced at Rochelle.

"We're not sure."

Virgil knelt down and studied Rochelle for a moment.

"She ain't got _it_ does she?" he asked, "Cause if she do, you best shoot her now. It'll only get harder later on, I can testify to that."

Rochelle recoiled and moved closer to Ellis.

"She's not infected!" the younger man insisted.

"We don't know that for sure," Nick pointed out. Rochelle watched as Ellis looked at Nick in shock, as if he didn't believe what he had just said about her. He was about to get up but she gripped to him as tightly as she could.

"Don't go," she whispered to him, "Please. Just don't."

Ellis heeded her request with some hesitation. He settled back next to her and huffed in annoyance. Coach then moved next to Nick and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"We might not know for sure, but we're also not giving up on her, right Nick?"

The two older men held each other's gaze for a few moments. Rochelle could see both loathing and anger in Nick's eyes, but she could also see a pained expression. It was almost as if Nick wanted to believe more than anything that she wasn't infected, but there was something that was stopping him. No doubt her request to kill her if she was infected was bothering him greatly now.

"Well, she don't look too good," Virgil mused, "There's a bed down below, you best get her inside and we'll see if we can get some food into her, how's that sound Missy?"

Rochelle looked at him through heavy eyes and nodded.

"Okay."

Coach offered to carry her again but Rochelle shook her head.

"I can do it."

"I know you can do it," he said, "But I would feel better if you didn't, please?"

Rochelle didn't argue, she just didn't have the energy to do so anymore.

When he picked her up, Rochelle was suddenly overwhelmed with emotion. In that moment, Coach reminded her of her father. He used to always cuddle her when she was sick as a child and right now, more than anything, she wanted that comfort. She wrapped her arms around his neck, buried her face against his shoulder, and wept.

"Shh," Coach soothed as he carried her inside, "You're okay; I got you. Everything's gonna be alright, you'll see."

Rochelle could only hope and pray that was true.

* * *

Nick cringed at the sound of Rochelle's cries, so much so that he opted to stay on the upper part of the boat until she had calmed down. Whatever was going through her mind, he didn't want to know. And the others, well, they didn't want to know what was going through his mind.

Did they all feel as sick as he did when Virgil sounded so calm when he said they should shoot her? And what did he mean when he said he could testify to it only getting harder if they waited? Of course the answer was obvious. Virgil had to kill someone to close to him, but who? His wife? Another family member? A friend? Nick didn't know and he wasn't about to go asking.

But maybe he should. It would certainly help him out in his promise he made to Rochelle.

'Now that would be a cheery conversation,' he thought to himself, 'Hey Virgil, sorry to bother you but who did you kill with this infection and how did you go about doing it? Why you ask? Well if Rochelle's sick I'm the lucky one she asked to kill her before she becomes one of those bastards. Any advice?'

Nick groaned and rubbed his face with his hands. He wished now more than ever he had someone, anyone to talk to about this. But he couldn't very well go up to Coach and tell him about it, and Ellis, shit, the kid would flip out.

So, it all fell on him; Coach and Ellis didn't know that. Rochelle didn't ask them to put a bullet in between her eyes if something happened to her. As much as he resented Rochelle for asking him to do that, he couldn't bring himself to hate her, as much as he might want to. There was something in her eyes that just fucked up all of the rules he had made for himself growing up.

Look out for number one, gone the moment he first helped her escape from a Smoker. Never get attached, that died with the way she sometimes looked at him, with respect and kindness. Getting away from them as soon as they got out of the hotel, pissed away when she said 'I hope you stick around Nick, we really need someone like you here.'

Just thinking about her more and more he knew he couldn't do it, there was no way. Maybe if he had followed his rules and kept his distance from them he wouldn't be feeling like this.

But then again, he was sick of always keeping people at arm's length. Going through all of this shit had him thinking that maybe his rules were a stupid and pathetic way to live. What had keeping people away ever done for him anyway? He was leading a lonely life and was alienated from the only family member he had left.

'I've become my father, the one person I swore I would never be like and what do you fucking know; I'm the spitting image of the bastard.'

Nick sat down and held his face in his hands, remembering what he and his sister Lizzy had fought about the last time he saw her, four years ago. He hadn't been entirely truthful when he told Coach he forgot about the fight, the truth was he didn't feel like going into his family history, and who could blame him?

* * *

"_Would it really kill you to call me once in awhile, and at least let me know that you're alive?"_

_Nick glanced up from his newspaper at Lizzy. She was twenty-eight years old now, and he was still surprised she hadn't married her long time boyfriend. She wasn't getting any younger and her veterinarian practise was doing very well, she had no reason to avoid the marriage issue anymore. He had brought it up to her and she just changed the subject to his once again very unexpected visit._

"_I'm here visiting aren't I? So therefore, I'm alive and well."_

"_Showing up out of the blue like this every few months isn't what I mean and you know it," she replied, "Where were you anyway?"_

"_All over, mostly in and out of Vegas."_

_She frowned._

"_They haven't thrown you out of there yet?"_

_He chuckled. _

_Lizzy was well aware of his life as a gambler and a con man, and she had threatened to turn him in tons of times. Always saying that if he ever got caught she wasn't going to go to jail for hiding him. Nick believed her too, that's why his visits never lasted long. The longest one had been four days, the shortest one; a couple hours._

"_Nope, not yet, I'll have to move on soon though, some people are starting to recognize me."_

"_All the wrong people I'm sure."_

"_Depends on your definition of 'wrong people.'"_

_Lizzy blew some of her short brown hair out of her green eyes; she had always done that, ever since they were kids. Their mother had always said it was unladylike, but that didn't stop her._

"_Mobsters, hookers, drug lords, you know; your crowd."_

_Nick smirked at her._

"_Oh come on, I don't mess with that shit."_

"_Whatever, why are you hear this time anyway?"_

"_I need an excuse to visit my favourite sister?"_

"_I'm your only sister, correction; your only relative since mom died."_

_Nick frowned and folded up his paper. Here it came, talking about mom. She always brought up their mother when she was about to pick a fight with him. Nick had missed their mother's funeral, due to a 'prior engagement' and Lizzy had never really forgiven him for it. Sure he had shown up, but not until the whole service was over._

"_Oh here it comes," he muttered._

"_I just think that if you would have stayed in touch..."_

"_I call, I visit, what the hell do you want from me?"_

"_I want a phone number I can call you at! I want you to stop doing this stupid shit and settle down before it gets you killed!"_

"_God, you're so dramatic."_

"_And you're just like Dad."_

_That did it. _

_Nick slammed his fists on the table, making her jump. He opened his mouth to say something but there were no words. So he picked up his suitcase, grabbed his jacket and stormed out of the house, never looking back._

* * *

'Figures,' Nick thought to himself, 'People call me out and I get pissed off and leave. She was right though, I'm just as cold as he was.'

"Nick?"

The gambler looked up to see Coach watching him with a concerned look on his face.

"What?"

"Virgil's got some food done, you hungry?"

"A little, how's Rochelle?"

"Better, she's calmed down a little and Ellis is cheering her up."

"Right."

Nick followed Coach down to the lower parts of the boat. It was pretty decent down there; perfect for at least three people to sleep and eat comfortably. With the five of them it was a little crowded but Nick found that he didn't mind it so much.

In the small kitchenette Virgil was whistling as he cooked, the guy must have been pretty damn lonely out here, so having them around must have been huge for him. Judging from the smell of the food; eggs and bacon were on the menu. Nick wasn't complaining and neither was his stomach as it growled in anticipation.

Over to the left side of the boat sat a small bed. That was where Rochelle now sat, drinking some water and nibbling on the food Virgil had given her. Coach had taken a seat at the small table which was across from the bed. Ellis had planted himself on the foot of the bed and was watching Rochelle carefully. His mood seemed to have improved now that Rochelle seemed more alert; as he was smiling.

"How do ya like your eggs Nick?" Virgil asked, handing a plate to Coach and Ellis.

"Doesn't matter, surprise me."

"Sunny side up it is then."

Nick sat in the extra chair at the table and glanced at the walls of the boat. They had been plastered with photos; most of them of the same woman. She had black hair, though it was starting to go grey; blue eyes and had a slender and feminine build. As Virgil sat his food in front of him, he caught him looking at the pictures.

"Ah, that there was my Faye," he said, "My wife of forty years."

"Holy shit," Ellis said, "That's a long damn time."

Virgil laughed.

"Yep, got married when we was both seventeen, had six kids too; four boys and two girls."

"She's beautiful Virgil," Coach offered. The older man grinned a lopsided smile.

"Darn right she was," he said.

"Was?" Ellis asked.

"My poor woman," Virgil mused, "She got bit awhile back."

Nick inwardly cringed as he added up the facts. Virgil must have had to kill Faye, his wife.

"I'm sorry Virgil," Rochelle said softly. The elder man shook his head.

"The damndest thing too," he explained, "She ran out of here screaming and crying, ripping at her clothes. I thought she was a woman possessed. I followed after her and found her a few hours later; fingers were like claws they were."

Nick saw Ellis shudder and glance at Rochelle, no doubt he was wondering if that was going to happen to her. Nick couldn't help but wonder that as well. Virgil's wife had become like the Witches they had encountered before.

"She ran away from you?" he asked, usually all of the Witches they encountered ran at them and tried to kill them. Virgil nodded.

"I done think she knew what was happening to her and didn't want to hurt me none," he said, "It might just be an old man's wishful thinkin' but that's what I believe."

The others nodded but said nothing. They didn't understand the Infected anymore than anyone else. For all they knew Faye could have chose to run away so she wouldn't hurt her long time husband. It was just too hard to say. But if she wasn't the one Virgil had to kill, than who was it?

"Where your kids at?" Coach asked. Virgil sighed. He then pulled out a bottle of whiskey from one of the cupboards and poured them each a drink.

"They's everywhere," he said, "'Cept for Celia, she was with me and Faye until she got bit too. She didn't run away like Faye did though."

He then fell silent, nursing his drink and leaving Nick to guess that it was Celia's blood on his jeans.

* * *

Despite Virgil's grim story Ellis' mood was on an upswing. After getting some food into her, Rochelle seemed to be doing much better. She was even smiling and laughing lightly at him as he told her some stories about him and Keith.

"So after he went under a third time, I realized something was wrong, so I jumped in after him only to see that he had his arms wrapped around the gator's mouth. He wasn't about to let go cause he knew he'd get gator teeth marks over ninety percent of his body, to go along with the burns and the mower blade scars!"

Rochelle laughed and had to hold her sides so she could catch her breath. Ellis loved Rochelle's laugh. Of him, it could be said that the reason he tried to make the mood so light all the time was that he liked the sound of laughter. If you could laugh in a situation it was bound to get better, no matter how bad it was. That was what he believed anyway. So even though she wasn't feeling the best and he was worried as hell about her, he was determined to see her smile.

"I swear, I'll never interrupt another one of your stories ever again," she told him, "Thanks for helping me feel better Ellis."

She winced slightly and he took her hand, letting her squeeze it if she needed too.

"You okay?"

"Yeah."

Ellis didn't press the issue, if she was really hurting she would tell them, especially after Coach made her swear to do so. Coach was now with Virgil, keeping him company as he drove the boat. Nick however had taken the bottle of whiskey and was nowhere in sight at the moment.

"So, what are you gonna do when we get out of this?" Ellis asked her. Rochelle glanced at him, a look of surprise in her eyes.

"I never thought about it, try and see if I can get some sort of story out of this I guess. I might as well try to save my job, if I can. You?"

"Back to the garage for me," he said, "Try and find Keith and my momma."

"What about your dad?"

Ellis shrugged.

"He left my momma when she was still pregnant with me."

Rochelle frowned darkly.

"His loss," she insisted, "He never got to see what a fine man you are."

Ellis couldn't help blushing from her compliment.

"Thanks Ro," he said to her.

He found himself locking gazes with her. Soon he was moving closer to her, placing his hand on her shoulder, trailing up to the back of her neck so he could pull her in for a kiss. She didn't refuse him, if anything she responded to the kiss passionately; fisting the material of his shirt tightly. Before the kiss had a chance to go farther a loud crash was heard from the upper part of the boat, forcing them apart.

"What was that?" she asked.

"No idea, I'll go and check it out," he told her, "Be back soon."

She smiled up at him.

"Okay."

Ellis gave her hand a final squeeze and then took his time walking up to the deck of the boat. When he got up there, the first thing he noticed was how much of a mess it was. Someone had throw buckets, ropes and other items all over the place. The next thing he saw was Nick stumbling over said items, the missing, and nearly empty, bottle of whiskey in his hand.

"Oh shit, Nick, are you drunk?"

"No officer," Nick slurred sarcastically, "I just drank nearly this whole bottle of whiskey all to myself, but no, not drunk at all."

Ellis sighed and shook his head. Nick slumped down onto the floor of the boat, humming to himself. The younger mechanic took the whiskey bottle and poured the contents out into the water, then dropped the bottle into one of the buckets.

"Damn," Nick mused, "Wicked waste Overalls."

"Come on Nick, you need to go and sleep this off brother," Ellis said, reaching out to take his hand. Nick swatted it away.

"Get lost and I'm not your God damn brother."

"Nick, come on, let me help you up."

"I don't need your help!"

Nick stumbled to get to his feet, nearly falling over but threw his hand out to steady himself. Ellis grabbed the hand he had thrown out to help him. When Nick realized that Ellis had helped him anyway, he scoffed and tried to shove him away again.

"Shouldn't you be looking after Rochelle," he muttered.

"We heard the noise you were making and I thought I better come and check it out," Ellis replied with a shrug, "Wouldn't want a Smoker to have made his way onto here now would we?"

"God forbid you and Rochelle's 'alone time' should get disturbed."

Ellis cringed.

"It ain't like that Nick."

The gambler snickered.

"What's it like them Ellis?"

The mechanic knew what Nick was doing as he had seen it plenty of times before. Men who drank could sometimes become angry and start acting like assholes. That was actually why his aunt had left her husband, Ellis' uncle, and moved to Savannah to stay with them for a little bit when he was little. He never would have imagined that Nick would be this type of person too, or maybe there was something really bothering him and Ellis seemed the best person to lash out at. That made sense too, since he was the only one around at the moment.

"I'm not talking about Ro with you Nick," he said, "Besides, you are completely shit-faced and you're gonna say some stupid shit you'll regret in the morning."

"I say everything I mean, even if I hate myself for saying it after."

Ellis arched an eyebrow and couldn't help but notice that Nick's eyes looked rather bloodshot. While he was sure most of it was from the booze, there was something more there.

"What do you mean Nick?"

Nick glanced up at him.

"She'd never ask you to do to her what she asked me," he said, "You couldn't do it anyway. But I can," he paused, looking torn, "fuck; who the hell am I kidding? I can't, I don't think I ever could, even...even if she begged me."

He was rambling now. Ellis saw the distress in his eyes and knew right away he was talking about something very serious.

"What did you promise her?" he asked, "Does this have anything to do with what you guys were talking about at the stage?"

Nick nodded.

"Women, they're all the same, always trying to get their way, it never changes."

"Come on Nick," Ellis said, grabbing Nick by the lapels of coat and shaking him slightly, "What did she ask you?"

"I love her Ellis," Nick admitted to him, "How pathetic is that? She loves you but I love her. It's all messed up, just like everything else around here lately."

Whatever sympathy he might have had for Nick, vanished in that moment. He shoved the older man away and started to angrily pace the deck of the boat.

"So, the two of you are doing something behind my back then?" he demanded, "Is that what this is all about?"

Nick scoffed.

"You fucking idiot," he slurred, "Both of you are. She treats you like a kid who doesn't deserve to know all the big things, and you don't trust her enough to see that she'd never pick someone like me. I give you guys maybe six months after this thing blows over before you call it quits."

Ellis' anger flared again.

"I trust her just fine! It's you I don't trust, cause you're just an asshole!"

"Someone's finally catching up!"

Nick got to his feet and lunged at Ellis, catching the mechanic off guard and right around the middle, bringing him down to the floor. Ellis felt Nick's fist connect with his jaw, leaving him slightly dazed for a moment. He then drew his knee up to connect with Nick's side and succeed in knocking him off of him.

Nick lay still for a moment, catching his breath. Ellis got to his feet and walked over to him. Then, out of spite, hurt and anger; he kicked Nick right in the stomach. Nick groaned in pain, gasping for air. He then swung out his leg, only to trip Ellis and make him fall onto his back.

"Shit!" Ellis muttered.

"Bastard," Nick groaned, "I hate you so God damn much."

"Like wise."

"Ellis! Nick! What in the hell is going on here!"

The two looked up to see Coach approaching them with a disappointed look on his face.

"We're talking," Nick snapped, "What's it look like?"

Coach frowned at the two of them.

"Virgil," he shouted, "Can you stop the boat for a minute?"  
"Sure thing, something wrong?"

"Nope, just gotta do something quick."

When the boat came to a stop, Coach seized both Nick and Ellis by the scruff of their necks and hauled them to their feet. While Ellis realized what he was doing, Nick was still in too much of a stupor to figure it out. That was until Coach heaved the both of them over the edge of the boat and into the water.

Nick surfaced a few moments later, coughing and spluttering.

"Coach!" he yelled, "What. The. Fuck!"

"This water is f-freezing!" Ellis added, wrapping his arms around himself and kicking his legs to stay above the surface.

Coach didn't seem very sympathetic towards them. He rested his foot on the ledge of the boat and looked down at them.

"You both need to cool off," he explained, "At the high school I worked at, we had a pool. Whenever any of the boys on the team were having issues with each other, I tossed them in there and didn't let them out until they came to a compromise. Since you two insist on being kids, I'm gonna treat you both like kids. Talk it out, what's going on."

"Ya'll never tell me nothin'!" Ellis said, "Nick's got somethin' going on with Rochelle."

Coach rolled his eyes.

"Ellis, boy, you must be outside of your mind to think that Rochelle would hurt you like that," he told him, "Nick, anything you have to say to that?"

"I can't, she made me promise, now let me out of this damn water before I drown."

Coach appeared to ponder this for a few moments. He then offered the two of them his hands and hauled them up out of the water.

Nick glared at Ellis.

"I'm going to kick your ass!" he slurred, "As soon as I'm sober."

Ellis rolled his eyes.

"You couldn't kick my ass even if you had a boost from those adrenaline shots, old man."

"Nick, I'm not gonna ask you again," Coach asked in a firm but gentle tone, "What did Rochelle ask you yo do?"

Nick looked up at him and then held his hands in his face.

"S-she asked me...to kill her if she b-became infected."

Coach was stunned into silence and Ellis' jaw dropped. Nick didn't look at them; somehow Ellis was sure that he just couldn't bring himself to do so. He kept his eyes hidden but the slight tremble in his shoulders spoke volumes. Ellis shook his head.

"She's not infected," he said, "I know she isn't."

"We have no way of knowing that Ellis."

The three men looked up to see Rochelle standing against the doorway that led to the lower part of the boat. She looked so vulnerable, so sick, no matter how hard she tried to hide it.

"Nick," she said softly, making her way over to him and kneeling between him and Ellis, "I'm sorry for asking you that, I had no right."

Nick shook his head.

"Doesn't matter, I can't do it anyway."

"None of us could," Coach said. Rochelle looked at Ellis and saw the hurt in his eyes.

"You're mad at me," she stated sadly. He shook his head.

"I'm not Ro," he said, "I just wish I could have...been the one you trusted with this."

She shook her head.

"I couldn't, not with this."

A silence fell over the four. Rochelle had placed her right hand on Nick's shoulder and Ellis had taken her left hand in his.

If possible Rochelle felt even worse. Not just physically, but now she felt guilty for putting such a strain on their group. She didn't want Ellis and Nick to fight with each other. She hated worrying all of them for nothing. Maybe it would be best if they went their separate ways. Oh how close she was to saying those words to them, even though she knew they would all refuse to leave her.

Nick would say something about her being stupid for even mentioning it. Ellis would flat out refuse and Coach would tell her that they weren't about to abandon her like this. Maybe they were more knight-like than she had originally thought.

"What are we gonna do now Coach?" Ellis asked.

"I don't know boy, but we'll figure something out, I promise you."

Even in this grim situation, Coach's calming voice put Rochelle at ease. Things might look bad now but she was sure they would turn out alright. They just had too. They all deserved that much, didn't they?

"Everyone alright down there?" Virgil called down to them, approaching them a few moments later. He had a confused look on his face when he saw that both Ellis and Nick were soaked.

"We're fine," Coach muttered, "Just trying to think of what to do now."

Virgil glanced at Rochelle and then nodded.

"Well, I wasn't gonna mention this," he mused, "But I got me some friends who might be able to figure out what's wrong with Missy here."

"Are you serious?" Ellis asked, a flicker of hope burning in his eyes.

"Yes sir, Janice is a nurse; she might know what's causing all this trouble."

"But what makes you think she's still alive?" Coach asked.

"She and her husband have locked themselves up in their home."

"Why would they help us?" Rochelle asked.

"Well, I sometimes bring them supplies and such, since they's all locked up they can't get out a lot you know? But I'm sure they wouldn't mind takin' a look at ya."

The four exchanged looks.

"Let's do it Virgil," Coach said, "The sooner we get there the better."

The older man climbed back up to the helm of the boat.

"You got it."

* * *

**Winter-Rae:** The more I write this, the more I'm starting to love a self loathing and angsty Nick. Also, I know people don't like OCs but let me say this about the ones in this story: 1. They are only here for plot enhancement, not to be hooked up with one of the survivors. 2. I needed an antagonist besides the zombies and 3. They are not the main characters. I hope everyone is okay with that. Thanks for reading, cheers!


	5. Chapter 5: Getting

**Will There Be Tomorrow**

**Title:** Will There Be Tomorrow

**Summary:** When a mysterious illness starts affecting Rochelle and nearly killing her, the others are left to wonder; what caused it, will it get worse and will they be next?

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing!

**Pairings:** Ellis/Rochelle, some Rochelle/Nick

**Warnings:** Language, mature scenes, sexual situations, and character death. You have been warned.

**Winter-Rae:** Sorry for the long wait everyone. I have been obsessed with a new video game I picked up. So now I'm just kicking myself for not updating sooner for you all. Anyway, I hope this new chapter earns forgiveness. And a big thank you to everyone who is reading, reviewing and enjoying this story, your kind words mean a lot to me. Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 5: Getting**

Coach decided to keep a very close eye on Rochelle until they got to the home that Virgil had told them about. To him it seemed almost too good to be true. How lucky could they be that Virgil would know and be friends with a nurse who might help them? He supposed he should count his blessings after all. Maybe this was the help from God he had been asking for. He wouldn't let it slip by him if that was indeed the case.

While Nick and Ellis were still cooling off on the deck of the boat he had brought Rochelle back to the small bed below. She had been distant with them ever since she and Nick told them what had gone on, and her request of him. Coach could understand keeping something like that from them, but he wished that he had been the one she had spoken too.

Of course he wasn't about to scold her for her choice in the matter. She must have had a reason for trusting Nick to the task. Maybe it was because she thought that he and Ellis would never be able to do what she asked. And he knew himself; he'd never be able to do it. Or maybe it was because she saw Nick as someone who would do anything to survive, even kill someone he saw as something more than a friend, even if the feelings weren't returned.

As Rochelle settled back into the bed she watched him quietly.

"Was it wrong what I asked Nick to do?" she asked him.

"What do you think?"

She held her face in her hands.

"I'm just so scared," she said quietly, "What if I hurt one of you? Oh God, I'd never be able to live with myself! And being one of those things, would I even realize it? Or feel remorse for it? I don't want to lose my humanity!"

Coach took her firmly, but gently, by the shoulders.

"Rochelle," he said, "You just gotta have some faith. Nothing is gonna happen to you okay? Everything will be fine, I promise you that."

"How can you promise something like that?"

Coach grinned.

"Because it's what I believe."

She offered him an unsure smile and then lay down to sleep. When he was sure she was out, Coach left her and went in search of Virgil. The older gentleman was holding onto the helm of the boat with his left hand and a radio in the other. Coach heard a woman's voice on the other end of the radio.

"When can we expect you Virgil?"

"Oh in an hour or so I expect, I got me some company too, a group of four."

Coach heard a silence over the radio and could only imagine what the woman might be thinking.

"Well, if you bring extra food and such it should be okay."

"Janice, one of em is hurtin' an awful lot too; I was hopin' you would look after her."

"Is she infected?"

Virgil turned and saw Coach was listening to the conversation. He motioned for him to enter, not caring that he was listening to him and the woman speak.

"I don't know if she is or not, but she needs help and you is the only one around to do that."

"I'm hardly a nurse anymore Virgil," the woman said in a very annoyed tone, "My job didn't seem as important to CEDA when the infection started getting worse and worse!"

Virgil sighed.

"Jan, maybe this is your chance to be a nurse and save a life again."

Coach was actually surprised at how serious Virgil seemed to become in helping them. The silence on the other end of the radio told Coach that 'Janice' was thinking about what he had said to her as well. A sigh was heard and then she cleared her throat.

"Fine, bring them all, see you at supper Virgil."

"Oh I do thank you kindly Janice."

He then clicked the radio back into place and glanced at Coach.

"Janice is a good woman, stubborn as hell with a bit of a nasty side but she means well. And she's a really good nurse too; yer friend will be in very good hands."

Coach nodded.

"It doesn't matter to me how she acts, as long as she is willing to help Rochelle, that's all that I care about right now."

Virgil nodded.

"Makes sense to me."

Coach then left him and moved on to check on Ellis and Nick. The two of them were still on the deck of the boat, not speaking to one another, but they seemed to have dried off for the most part.

"Well," Coach said, "Are you two gonna play nice now?"

"Yes sir," Ellis muttered, sounding more like a scolded child. Nick on the other hand said nothing, just nodded in a silent agreement. Coach was satisfied with that, sometimes dealing with adults at odds could be even harder than dealing with children or teenagers at odds.

"I have some news," he said, this caused the other two to glance up at him; a mix of worry and hope in their eyes.

"Virgil's friend, the nurse, she's agreed to take us in for a little while."

"Isn't that where we were going in the first place?" Ellis asked.

"He would have had to check with her to make sure it was alright now wouldn't he?" Nick pointed out, slight sarcasm in his voice. Coach did not draw attention to it as Ellis seemed to agree with him.

"That makes sense, my bad."

Coach was almost amused by the strained sense of politeness the two of them were trying to get across. Nick's clenched jaw and Ellis refusing to even look at the gambler. Now where did Coach see this before? After VeNay and Tiana were yelled at for fighting they often did the same thing, he didn't mention this however. He somehow doubted that comparing Nick and Ellis to his two younger daughters would help the situation any.

"Anyway, that's where we're headed now," Coach added, "It might be good to get some sleep."

He turned to go back to the lower part of the boat.

"Coach?"

"Yeah Ellis?"

"Is Rochelle okay?"

He paused and glanced back at them."

"She's fine, sleeping now, which is exactly what you two should be doing."

That ended that topic.

"There's some extra blankets and pillows down below, grab some and find a place to crash, no talking either."

Surprisingly, Nick and Ellis did as they were told and headed down below. Coach stared after them and heaved a sigh. This whole situation had been both physically and emotionally exhausting for him. He too was looking forward to catching a few hours of much needed sleep.

* * *

How long he slept, Coach didn't know, but he was woken up by Virgil. The older man was shaking his shoulder gently with a concerned look on his face.

"Missy's not doing so well," he said. Coach jumped to his feet, instantly awake, and ignoring his protesting muscles. When he glanced at the bed he saw that it was empty, he looked over at Virgil for an explanation and he just pointed up to the deck of the boat. Coach hurried up to it and saw that Rochelle was leaning over the edge, heaving.

"Don't wake up Nick or Ellis yet," he said quietly to the Cajun, "Let them sleep."

"Sure, we'll be there in a few minutes."

Coach moved next to Rochelle and placed a hand on her back.

"Coach," she groaned, "This shit keeps getting worse. What the hell is wrong with me?"

He could hear the fear and almost panic in her voice. He spoke calmly to her, not wanting her to get anymore riled up than she already was. Keeping her calm was the most important thing now, if she got too upset she could make herself even worse.

"Ro, we're nearly at the house," he said, "Just take a few deep breaths for me okay."

She looked up at him with bloodshot eyes and nodded.

"Okay, I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For being so pathetic, I shouldn't let you take care of me like this."

Coach frowned.

"Ain't nothing wrong with getting some help, Rochelle."

"When the help I'm getting gets in the way of us surviving this shit and getting to New Orleans it becomes a huge problem."

"Have you heard me, Ellis or Nick complain once about it?"

She fell silent, knowing full well that he was right. Coach didn't want Rochelle to give up but he also didn't want her to think that she was being a burden either.

"Now you listen, and listen good," he said, "We all in this together. If our positions were switched would you have ditched me?"

A look a shock filled her face, as well as disgust with even thinking about the possibility of leaving someone behind.

"Never!"

"What about Nick? Or Ellis?"

"Not a chance."

"Then why is it so hard for you to see that we feel the same way?" he asked her. Rochelle didn't answer him. She sat on the floor of the boat and pulled her knees to her chest, then rested her head on them. She was trying to hide from him, he could see that. Her shoulders trembled and he saw that she was trying desperately to be strong and not cry in front of him.

He could understand where she was coming from. She didn't want to be seen as a damsel in distress, she wanted to prove herself to them and show them she was strong and just as capable. Being hurt or ill like she was now, was taking away all of her physical strength and now her mental and emotional strength was fading along with it.

Coach sat next to her. He didn't touch her though, even though he wanted to wrap an arm around her and comfort her, he knew that she was trying to be strong. If he pressed too much she would only try to hide what was going on with her again, and they couldn't afford to let that happen. So for now, all he could do was sit and wait for her to give him the okay.

"Coach," Rochelle said softly.

"Yeah Ro?"

"Everything will be okay, right?"

Coach glanced at her and offered her a sad smile.

"You have my word, little sister."

She then lent her head on his shoulder and the two of them sat in silence.

* * *

Rochelle knew she had dozed off while sitting with Coach because before she fell asleep she just felt like shit, but when she woke up she felt worse.

Her vision was blurred, her body didn't feel like her own, a raging nausea attacked her stomach and she felt like something was clawing at her insides. She was freezing cold one moment and then scorching hot the next, not to mention the headache. She looked down at her hands and through her blurred vision she saw they were shaking.

'Oh God,' she thought, 'What's happening to me?'

"Ro?" Coach said gently, a look of concern on his face, "Something wrong?"

Rochelle bit her lip, trying to fight back the fear and tears that were threatening to send her into another panic. She didn't want to panic, she knew she couldn't, she had so stay calm. She took a deep breath and tried to nod, but she couldn't. Something told her that this was serious and not something she should be hiding from him.

"Yes," she whispered, "It's even worse now Coach."

The next thing she knew he was lifting her up into his arms and shouting for Ellis and Nick to wake up and for Virgil to hurry up and tie the boat off.

"What's up?" she heard Ellis ask, "Ro! Oh God, girl can you hear me?"

She lifted her hand up to signal that she did. She felt his warm hand take her cold one and hold onto it gently.

"She's like ice!" he said, "Coach, what do we do!"

"Calm down," Nick's voice broke in, "We're at the dock let's just get her to the house already."

While Nick was trying to hide it, Rochelle heard the worry in his voice. Maybe he did care, even after what she put him though.

"Ro, open your eyes for me," Ellis begged. Rochelle slowly did as he asked and instantly wished that she hadn't. She could hardly make out their faces and it terrified her. She tried to focus but that only made her headache worse, so she quickly closed her eyes again.

"Everything is all blurry," she muttered, "It's hard to focus."

"Shit," Ellis said, placing his hand on her cheek, "It'll be okay soon Rochelle."

"We can head out now," Virgil's voice sounded out, "They know we's coming."

Rochelle felt Coach start to walk quickly. She hoped and prayed that they wouldn't have to fight any hordes as they made their way to the house. If anything happened to the others while she was like this, she'd never forgive herself. She could hear the yells and moans of the zombies around them and the occasional gunshot from either Nick, Ellis or Virgil; but thankfully no hordes came after them. Small mercies she supposed and it was about damn time.

"Right around the corner now," Virgil said, "It's real good to have help getting there this time. This trip usually takes me an hour to make."

"No problem Virgil," Nick muttered, "Besides, we owe you one."

There Nick went being decent again. Rochelle felt even guiltier now. Maybe she would tell him to forget about the stupid promise, if she was doomed to become like the other zombies out there she'd ask Coach to just set her down in a park somewhere. Somewhere slightly decent; so the last thing she would see, before she lost every piece of herself, would be something normal.

"Janice!" Virgil shouted suddenly, "Peter! Open up now ya hear."

"Virgil, is it clear?"

"All clear, 'cept for us of course."

Rochelle chanced opening her eyes again and was thankful that her vision had cleared slightly. Maybe this was a come and go sort of thing, like an allergy. Of course that could just be wishful thinking too. But she was able to make out a decent sized, white house; all of the windows had been boarded up in order to keep the Infected out. However, two of the ones on the top floors had been left alone, no doubt to let some fresh air and sunlight in.

Once they were inside the door was bolted closed and the sounds of locks being latched and something being moved in front of it was heard.

Rochelle felt a hand on her forehead and she tried to pull away from its clammy feel. That wasn't Ellis' hand, she knew his callused touch, and Coach wore those gloves but this hand had none, and she would have felt Nick's rings if it was him.

"She's burning up," a woman's voice said. Rochelle glanced up and saw the woman who had to be Janice. She was probably in her mid-forties with blonde hair that had been streaked with brown, she also had dark brown eyes but pale skin; like someone who wasn't out in the sun often. She was also very tall, almost the same height as Coach's six foot and six inches, but with an athletic build.

"Follow me," she said in a very no nonsense tone, "I set up a room for her."

Rochelle was carried down a hallway which had some pictures on the walls and then brought into a bedroom. The bed had to be the most comfortable thing she had ever been on. Of course not being able to sleep on an actual bed for a couple weeks might be altering her perception of comfort.

"Can I ask you gentlemen to wait outside please?" Janice asked.

"No," Ellis replied quickly.

Rochelle saw Janice place her hands on her hips; clearly she did not like her authority being challenged.

"To preserve dignity I have to insist," she said, "There might be some questions she doesn't want you to hear the answer to. And if I have to examine her I doubt she'll want an audience."

Ellis looked at Rochelle, waiting for her to say if they should stay or if she was alright with this woman. She forced a smile.

"I'll call you if I need you, remember?"

The younger man smiled back at her and then nodded.

"Okay."

Once they left, Janice closed the door and returned to Rochelle's side.

"I'm Janice," she said, as she offered her hand.

"Rochelle."

"Nice to meet you, I'm sure you've had checkups before right?"

"Yes."

"Do I have your permission to look after you?"

Rochelle arched an eyebrow, which made Janice sigh.

"Sorry, force of habit; I always ask people for their permission before I start to examine them."

"Oh, umm, yeah, do whatever you need to do."

"While I do this, I need you to tell me all of your symptoms, everything, no matter how weird it might seem. Understand."

"Yes ma'am."

Janice let out a short laugh.

"Haven't been called that in awhile, so how old are you Rochelle?"

"Twenty-nine."

"Any drugs or alcohol in your system?"

Rochelle wasn't sure how that was relevant. Janice sensed her hesitation and offered her a small smile.

"You could be having an allergic reaction," she said, "I need to know everything."

"There are some pain pills I've been taking," Rochelle replied, "But they've never bothered me before. I think Nick still has some. And some adrenaline in the shots we picked up, but that's it."

Janice nodded and then proceeded to take Rochelle's temperature, blood pressure and pulse; all while asking more questions. They all seemed odd to Rochelle. She asked about her eating habits; which there hadn't been a lot of in the past couple weeks since they were lucky to find any types of food at all, let alone healthy food. Still Rochelle answered as best as she could, anything to find out what the hell was wrong with her.

* * *

Meanwhile, Coach had been waiting in the hallway with Ellis, Nick and Virgil when another man walked down the stairs and greeted them.

"Peter!" Virgil said, shaking the hand of the gentleman, who looked to be in his mid-forties as well, "How is everything."

Peter, a skinny man with short brown hair and thoughtful hazel eyes, smiled.

"Could be better," he said, adjusting his wire rimmed glasses, "Who might these folks be."

"Ah, this here is Ellis, Nick and Coach," the Cajun explained, "Found them and the lady at an abandoned plantation house."

Peter shook the men's hands.

"Welcome," he said, "Ya'll can stay for as long as you need to."

"Is Rochelle gonna be okay?" Ellis asked. Peter shrugged.

"I have no idea son," he said, "But Janice will take care of her, ya'll hungry? Or better yet, how about a drink? I know I could use one."

Coach frowned slightly as they followed Peter and Virgil into the kitchen. Amazingly enough, the house still had power and judging from the dull rumbling in the basement they had a generator going to provide them with it. Virgil must have been delivering gas to them on some of his trips in return for shelter, food and the like.

"Is it just the two of you here?" Coach asked. Peter shook his head. He grabbed some glasses and poured each of them a drink. Coach couldn't help but notice that Peter didn't exactly look healthy himself, with a slight yellowish tinge to his skin and a slight shake in his hands.

"Two others," he replied, "Our son Shane and Lindsey, a friend of Jan's. She's a nurse too, so she'll probably be helping to look after your friend when they get back."

"Where they at now?" Virgil asked. Peter shrugged.

"Wandering around town, looking for supplies again I suppose."

"That's stupid, just the two of them," Nick muttered.

"Well, I can't hold a gun to well," Peter replied, "And Janice is scared to death of those things out there, and we hold the fort here pretty good though. Shane and Lindsey don't have to go, but they do, and they're young. They are pretty good at taking care of themselves and each other."

Coach threw a warning glance at Nick, telling him to knock off insulting the only people that were willing to help them. Nick shrugged but went silent. Coach then looked at Ellis who kept throwing glances back towards the bedroom where Rochelle was. He could see the worry and anxiety in his eyes, Peter seemed to as well.

"Don't worry son," he said, "She don't look like any of those things out there, I've seen a few of the stages, I'm sure your friend is okay."

Ellis didn't say anything which led Peter to change the subject.

"Where you folks from anyhow?"

"Ellis and I are both from Savannah, Georgia," Coach replied, "Rochelle's from Cleveland, Ohio."

"Long way from home ain't she?"

"She was doing a story on...on the infection," Ellis said quietly. Peter nodded and then looked at Nick.

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Not the sharing type, I see."

Nick rolled his eyes.

"This is a mighty nice place you got here," Ellis said, desperate for conversation. He didn't want to listen to the quiet, and the awkward silence that threatened to take over from Nick's hostility was more than he could stand. Peter smiled thankfully.

"It's not much," he mused, "But it's home, lived here for near 25 years now."

"The zombies give you much trouble?" Coach asked. Peter shook his head.

"No, we avoid them and they don't usually come around here, if they do...well, Shane and Lindsey take care of them."

"I'm surprised you're still surviving," Nick pointed out, "Food, water, everything, must be hard to come by?"

Peter frowned at him.

"Well Mister, we've done some things we're not proud of; stealing from stores and gas stations being a few of them," he explained, "But we weren't going to give up our home to those things. When you live somewhere for so long it...becomes a part of who you are. You know what I mean?"

"No," Nick replied shortly, "Not at all."

Coach rubbed his neck and left out an exasperated sigh. Nick just couldn't leave anything well enough alone. Ellis on the other hand seemed to be eager to except the help of these strangers, not that Coach blamed him.

The five men looked up as they heard the door to the back bedroom open and then close again. Janice stormed into the room glaring at Coach, then Nick and then Ellis.

"So help me God," she said angrily, "If I find out one of you had anything to do with that girl being sick like this, you will regret the day you walked into my home!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Nick demanded angrily, "You can't just accuse us of something, you don't know shit."

"Nick, relax!" Ellis said loudly, "Ma'am, please, do you know what's the matter with Ro?"

Janice observed the three of them, as if she was trying to read them, trying to figure out if they were keeping something from her. Coach shifted his weight under her icy glare, something in her eyes told him that whatever news she had, was not good.

Once she was satisfied, Janice crossed her arms over her chest and shook her head slowly.

Coach knew that look.

Anyone who had seen a decent hospital drama or had a dying friend or family member knew it very well. It was the same look a doctor had given him when he told Coach and his family that his mother had cancer and that she was dying.

'Please Lord,' he thought, 'don't make me out to be a liar, I promised her everything would be okay.'

However, Janice's news was very different.

"Rochelle is pregnant."

* * *

**Winter-Rae:** And there is my twist of an ending to this chapter! However, I'm sure most of you saw that one coming. Anyway, I will try my best to update sooner next time. Hope you all enjoyed that. Thanks for reading and cheers!


	6. Chapter 6: Explaining

**Will There Be Tomorrow**

**Title:** Will There Be Tomorrow

**Summary:** When a mysterious illness starts affecting Rochelle and nearly killing her, the others are left to wonder; what caused it, will it get worse and will they be next?

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing!

**Pairings:** Ellis/Rochelle, some Rochelle/Nick

**Warnings:** Language, mature scenes, sexual situations, and character death. You have been warned.

**Winter-Rae:** So, most people seemed to enjoy the twist in the last chapter, I'm glad. But I'm not too sure about how people will feel about this one...enjoy?

* * *

**Chapter 6: Explaining**

Nick was stunned into silence. Pregnant? Rochelle was gonna have a kid? He immediately glanced at Ellis who looked just as shocked by the news as he did. How could Rochelle not know she was pregnant? Didn't women have sixth sense about shit like that? And if she knew about it, why didn't she tell them in the first place? That might have been a good thing to tell them when they first met.

'Yeah right,' Nick thought to himself, 'She'd just say _'Hey, name's Rochelle, by the way I'm pregnant so let's stick together yeah?'_ It sounds even more stupid thinking about it.'

But was she pregnant before she had met them or after? If it was after than the kid was Ellis' and in Nick's mind he now had someone to blame for Rochelle being sick and in so much pain. If the damn kid had kept it in his pants none of this would be happening right now. They'd be on their way to New Orleans and getting out of this fucking mess.

Nick's mind spun with things he wanted to say and things he knew he shouldn't say, both of them were more or less one in the same. But before he had a chance to, Coach spoke.

"You're kiddin' me right?" he asked. Janice shook her head, a serious expression on her face.

"I don't kid."

Coach then looked over at Ellis and grinned.

"I suppose a congratulations is called for now, right boy?"

Ellis shifted his weight but didn't say anything. Janice fixed her cold eyes on him.

"Oh?" she asked, waiting for an explanation.

"Uhh."

"They played the skin flute about two weeks ago," Nick pointed out. This earned him a glare from Ellis, but he didn't care. Janice heaved a sigh.

"Is this what's making her sick?" Ellis asked.

"Yes and no," she replied, "I think you best all sit down so I can explain a few things to you."

"Shouldn't we be happy for her?" Coach asked as they followed Janice into a sitting room that was just off of the kitchen, "Having a baby is a great thing."

"Normally yes," she said, "But that baby, well...it isn't exactly a baby."

Nick frowned, wondering just what in the hell this old broad was going on about.

"I saw something like this at the hospital I worked at," Janice explained to them quietly, her voice shaking slightly as she spoke "Pregnant women would come in complaining of what they thought were labour pains or the flu. It didn't make sense for some of them since they were only about three months along. When the infection started getting worse, so did the conditions of the women...none of them survived."

A dread filled silence filled the room; Ellis felt his knees shake slightly. He threw out his hand to steady himself and then lowered himself to the floor.

"I don't understand," Nick said, determined to hear the rest of what she was saying.

"Their babies were infected," Janice replied, "They ripped, bit, and clawed their way out of their mothers before we even knew what was happening."

"But how is that even possible?" Coach asked, "If the mothers were bit they should have been infected too."

"They might have been like Rochelle," she replied, "Immune to the infection but their babies were not. The infection travelled through the bloodstream and ended up affecting the child; making it grow at an alarming rate and making it like...like those things."

Ellis didn't want to hear anymore. He didn't want this to be happening, not to Rochelle. She didn't deserve this. She deserved to be happy and...healthy.

"What can we do?" Nick asked. Janice sighed.

"Medicate her, and try to make her as comfortable as possible," she said, "I think you all are going to have to realize that she is not going to make it. You all might want to try and come to terms with that, and say goodbye to her. Make this time as happy as you can for her. I'm sorry."

Nick turned and punched the wall as hard as he could.

"Fuck!"

Ellis wiped at his eyes when he realized they were starting to moisten, now was not the time for this, he had to be strong. Coach placed his hand on his shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze. Ellis saw Nick glare at him and could only imagine what might be going through his head at that moment. He blamed him for Rochelle being hurt like this, how could he not?

"I knew you'd get someone killed," Nick muttered.

"Nick, shut your mouth," Coach snapped.

"You're defending him!" the gambler yelled, "Coach, he's the reason she's on her God damn death bed!"

"We don't know that!"

"Oh yes we do," Nick yelled, "He's the only one who touched her, it's his fault. I should kick your ass Ellis."

"Rochelle and I both disagree with you, Nick," Janice broke in. Nick frowned at her and then threw his arms up in disbelief.

"Anything to protect this naive little shit," he said, "Of course, make me out to be the asshole, what a surprise."

"This isn't about you Nick!" Coach shouted, "This is about Rochelle, so sit down, shut up, and listen! For once!"

Nick felt nothing but blinding anger towards the whole lot of them. He wanted to hit something and not the wall. He clenched his fists tightly and focused on the blood pounding in his ears to try and calm himself.

"Rochelle said that she and her ex had been together about three months ago, a time before they had split," Janice reported, "And the symptoms she described to me were the same as the women, with infected babies, who were three to four months along. Ellis, this baby is not yours; she wanted you to be clear on that. Do you understand?"

"Yes, but can I see her?" Ellis asked, nodding "I need to talk to her."

"Of course," Janice replied, "she's resting now, so try not to upset her."

Ellis nodded and then hurried away, wanting to be anywhere but in the same room as Nick. He knocked lightly on the door and pushed it open when Rochelle said he could come in. She looked more alert; no doubt she had heard all of the shouting that had gone on. She held out her arms and he rushed into them, letting her hug him close.

"This is my fault," he whimpered, "I'm sorry."

"Didn't Janice tell you?" she asked, "It's not your fault, and I'm too far along. This is Jacob's baby. Not yours, you have nothing to do with this."

"I should have paid more attention, and took care of you," he said.

"I don't need a babysitter," she said softly, "But I do appreciate how much you care."

"Course I care!" he said, pulling away from their embrace so he could look her in the eyes, "Ro, I really care about ya. I don't want to lose you like this."

She smiled at him and he saw her lips quiver.

"You're going to make me cry," she said, her voice breaking slightly, "So much for being tough."

"You don't have to be tough all the time Ro," he said, "It's okay, I know I'm not. You shoulda seen me when Keith and I first tried paintballin'. Man, he nailed me with one right on my ass. Hurt like a mother for a week, which I reminded him of every chance I had."

Rochelle laughed lightly. No matter what the situation, Ellis always found a way to make her smile. And so eager was she to escape the dire situation she had found herself in, she patted the spot next to her, "Tell me another one, another Keith and Ellis tale."

"Uhh, okay," Ellis mused, taking the hint and moving next to her, "There was one time when Keith fell down an open manhole; he was unconscious down there for like a week. During that time, unbeknownst to Keith, they paved over it. Keith had to wander around down there until he found the next openin'. Too bad the one he came out of happened to be right in the middle of the road. When he popped it open there was this lady drivin' towards him, nearly ran him over. She swerved outta the way just in time though."

"What happened after that?" Rochelle asked.

"She brought him to the hospital, and then actually asked him out after he got fixed up."

Rochelle arched an eyebrow.

"You're kidding me right?" she asked, "He reeked like sewer and she still went out with him?"

Ellis nodded.

"Keith's always been lucky with the ladies," he said, "I'm his wing man if we go to the bar."

"Ah, regular man whores are you?" she teased. Ellis grinned.

"You can't be that sick if you're makin' fun of me," he shot back. He then wished he hadn't brought up her being sick. For just a few minutes it was like everything was fine, but being reminded of just how hurt she really was made him go silent, and ponder just what the hell they could do.

"When this is over you should come and meet him," he said quietly, trying to sound as upbeat as he could without it sounding forced.

"Is that an invitation?"

"Sure is, if you want too of course, I know you didn't really like Savannah but..."

"There were thousands of zombies running around sweetie," she pointed out, "If they had all been in Cleveland, I doubt I would have liked it there either. But maybe I will visit you...if everything...never mind."

Ellis sighed and then took her hand.

"What do you want me to do Ro?" he asked her.

"There's nothing to do," she said, "This little thing inside me is killing me and we both know it."

"I won't let it."

"Ellis, you're just being stubborn."

"You're giving up then?"

She looked up at him, there was some defiance in her tired eyes but Ellis saw that her inner strength was starting to leave her. She might want to fight the thing inside her but just her fighting wasn't going to be enough, she needed outside help, his help.

"What do you want from me?" she asked him, "Janice said that nothing can be done, we might as well just accept it. You think I want to die? I still had things to do and people to talk to. I really wanted to get to New Orleans with you guys, but it's just not going to happen."

"Shit," Ellis swore, "I'm going to fix this."

Rochelle pulled away from him.

"There's nothing to fix!" she snapped angrily, "Just go, get out."

Ellis was stung by her harsh words. He looked at her in surprise and when she didn't say anything he got to his feet and made to leave. He paused at the door and looked back at her.

"I love you Rochelle," he said. She avoided his eyes and said nothing in response to his confession. Ellis saw a single tear roll down her face which she quickly wiped away in an attempt to hide it. He wanted her to say something, anything, but she wouldn't even look at him, she had closed herself off, she had given up.

Well, he wasn't about too, and he wasn't going to let her either. All he had to do now was try to find a way to show her that she couldn't give up. There was always hope and he was bound to find it. He then turned away from her and shut the door behind him.

'I'm going to fix this!' he told himself. He slowly made his way back to the sitting room and caught part of the conversation Coach was having with Janice.

"It's going to be really painful then?" he heard Coach ask.

"Yes, I can medicate her but there is only so much that can do."

So they had given up too? Coach had said himself that they wouldn't abandon Rochelle; how could he even entertain Janice's idea of drugging Rochelle to the point where she wouldn't even know who they were? He clenched his fists and squared his shoulders before making himself known. The others went quiet and looked at him.

"No," he said softly.

"What do you mean no?" Janice asked, frowning at him. Ellis could tell that she didn't like him, but he really didn't care what she thought.

"No way in hell am I just sitting back while she dies," he said, "There's gotta be something else we can do for her! Anything."

"Like what Ellis?" Nick demanded, "Cut the thing out of her?"

Ellis' eyes flickered at that comment, Nick frowned.

"Oh no," he said, "Don't even think about it, that's insane."

"Could you do that?" Ellis asked Janice. Her eyes widened and she took a step back, placing a hand over her heart.

"Are you crazy?" she hissed, "I don't have the tools for a procedure like that! Or the medication. What if the wound got infected? What if she went into cardiac arrest? I'm not even a surgeon, I'm just a nurse!"

"Peter, what about you, what do you do," Ellis said, desperate.

"He's a chiropractor!" Janice cried out, "He isn't qualified to do surgery."

"Can't be that hard," Peter mused, "Cut her open, avoid all major veins and arteries, take the thing out, and sew her back up."

"It's not that fucking easy," Nick snapped angrily.

"Of course not," Peter replied, "But that's breaking it down to the basic steps."

"Now you're talking Doc!" Ellis said.

"Be serious Ellis," Coach said, "This is Rochelle's life we're talking about."

"I've never been more serious Coach, we gotta do somethin'."

Janice shook her head.

"No!" she snapped, "I'm not letting this happen!"

"Janice, it's her only chance," Peter said calmly, "We can't just let her die. There's been too much of that going on now a days."

"We're not surgeons!"

"I can do this," he said, "I've dissected..."

"They were cadavers!" Janice cried out, "Dead bodies! This is a living young woman!"

"A young woman who will die, unless you help!" Coach said.

"Coach!" Nick snapped, "You're not entertaining the kid's idea."

"I ain't a kid!" Ellis growled, he then turned to Janice, "Please, you can't let her die. We can get the supplies you need! Give us a list, there's a hospital around here somewhere right? We go there, get what you need and come back, no problem!"

"What's this 'we' stuff?" Nick asked. Ellis glared at him.

"Don't be an ass Nick," he said, "Rochelle needs us."

"Last time I checked, you were the one who knocked her up," the gambler pointed out. Ellis opened his mouth to correct him but fell silent. While the baby wasn't his, this was his idea and as much as he didn't want to do it alone, he might just have to.

"Nick, don't you go blamin' Ellis for this now," Coach said sternly, "You know this isn't his fault, just because blamin' him makes you feel better don't make it right."

"No Coach," Ellis said, squaring his shoulders, "He's right. The baby might not be mine, but I'm with Rochelle now, that makes both of 'em my responsibility. I'll go. Janice, Peter, gimme a list of everything you're gonna be needin'. I'll get it all and be back here in no time."

"I can come along with you if you like," Peter offered.

"No way Doc," Ellis said, shaking his head, "If something happens to you, we're screwed."

Janice didn't look convinced.

"I'm not doing this," she said, "Forget it."

"Jan," Peter said softly, "We have to try."

"What about Rochelle?" Janice demanded, "Have you asked her if this is what she wants? What if she doesn't want to be cut open?"

"It's better than being ripped apart from the inside," Peter argued. Janice opened her mouth to argue further but a woman's voice rang out from outside of the house.

"Hey Janice! We're back! Got a lot of supplies here, come help us out."

"That would be Shane and Lindsey," Virgil pointed out to Coach, Ellis and Nick. He had been silent during the whole ordeal, not offering any advice. Coach was sure that he didn't want to get involved in something of this magnitude, not that he blamed him.

"This will have to wait," Janice muttered to her husband. She then stalked towards the door with Virgil following her. Peter turned to the others.

"She'll come around boys," he said, "Just give me time to talk to her."

He then left the three alone. Nick glanced at Ellis.

"You're out of your God damned mind, you know that right?"

"Why does everyone keep sayin' that?" Ellis asked, "I just want to help her."

"We can't!"

"If she can get that thing out of her she'll be okay."

"How do you know that Ellis?" Nick demanded, "What's to stop the operation from going badly? What's to stop that thing from killing her before they get it out? You're not thinking!"

"I am too!" Ellis snapped, "I want to do what's best and lettin' her die without tryin' to help doesn't seem like the best to me. You said you loved her, so act like it, grow a pair, and help!"

Nick was stunned into silence. He hadn't expected Ellis to speak to him like that, nor to call back to remembrance his drunken confession.

"This is not the time," Coach said, "We gotta stick together now more than ever. Ellis, that was a low blow, he has every right to punch you now."

Ellis felt slightly guilty when Coach spoke to him like that. He was just so frustrated with everyone talking to him like a child who didn't know what was at stake here. He decided to put his best foot forward and make some sort of peace with Nick.

"I'm sorry Nick," he said.

"Whatever."

"Call a truce you two," Coach said, "No more fighting."

Nick huffed but held out his hand to Ellis and the younger man shook it.

"Thank you," Coach sighed.

"Can I still make fun of his suit?" Ellis asked.

"Only if I can make fun of your accent," Nick shot back.

"I can live with that."

"You two are right messed up in the head," Coach insisted, "Let's go help Virgil and the others with those supplies. Might as well make ourselves useful before talkin' more about this plan."

"You got it Coach."

* * *

As much as Nick hated to admit it, Coach had a point. There was no sense in blaming Ellis for Rochelle being sick. If this Janice chick was as smart as Virgil and Peter seemed to think then she must have some idea about who the baby belonged too. She said Rochelle's symptoms were the same as the women who were farther along in their pregnancy, but he still didn't feel at ease.

In the meantime, he would put on the front of the truce that he and Ellis called. He didn't want to be hateful towards the kid but as much as he didn't want to face it, he was jealous of him. Not just of the fact that he had 'won' Rochelle, if he could he really call it that; but that he could also make her laugh, see the good in everything, and had a drive to set things right that he didn't.

That was why he couldn't call the whole situation a win or lose. Rochelle chose Ellis, and if she had a decent judge of character like he thought she did, she made a decent choice. However, even coming to terms with it didn't make him feel any better.

"Hey."

Nick was taken by surprise as someone set a box into his arms. He frowned slightly at said person. This must have been the 'Lindsey' he heard the others make mention of. He couldn't remember the last time he ever saw a more 'Plain Jane' type of woman. She was short, maybe 5'4; if she was lucky, with short brown hair and brown eyes which had dark rings under them from a lack of sleep. She had a slender build too; something he didn't think would be useful in a fight against a Tank.

"Hey yourself," he replied, straining slightly with the box, "What the hell is in here?"

"Oh, you know: food, water, some ammo; all the required items needed durin' a zombie apocalypse."

She had slight drawl to her voice as well, not nearly as bad or as annoying as Ellis'. She picked up another box and nudged him forward to the house.

"Janice mentioned we'd be havin' visitors," she added, "I'm Lindsey."

"Nick."

"Right, well, we got about six more boxes to carry, let's go."

Nick wasn't sure what to make of this woman, she didn't seem as depressing as Janice and Peter did. But if Nick was confused with her, he wasn't when it came to Shane. He flat out couldn't stand the guy right off the bat.

"Oh great, a fucking hick," Shane muttered when he heard Ellis speak a greeting to him and to Lindsey. Ellis frowned but said nothing as he picked up the last of the boxes to carry in.

"Ignore him," Lindsey whispered to Nick, "He's an ass."

"Really?" Nick muttered, "I never would have guessed."

Shane even looked like an asshole. A head full of thick black hair, cold blue eyes and a permanent smirk on his face which made him look as if he thought he was the king-shit. He was taller than both Nick and Ellis, but shorter than Coach. Nick could tell that Shane was in shape though; he could easily over power any of the three in their group.

But his looks weren't the only thing that screamed asshole. His attitude made Nick look friendlier than Ellis.

"How long are they staying?" Shane asked Janice, loud enough for Coach, Nick and Ellis to hear as they assisted Virgil, Peter and Lindsey with putting away the supplies.

"One of their friends is ill," Janice replied in hushed tones, "We're trying to figure out how to help her."

"What's wrong with your friend?" Lindsey asked Ellis, sounding concerned.

"She's knocked up," Nick answered when Ellis remained silent. The mechanic had not mentioned his plan again since Lindsey and Shane had shown up. Maybe he was worried that they wouldn't want to help him in his task and that they would side with Janice. Nick couldn't tell. Lindsey bit her lip.

"Crap," she muttered, "Did Janice tell you..."

"Yeah, she did," Nick replied, cutting her off.

"What are you gonna do?"

"Genius over there thinks we should cut it out of her."

Lindsey glanced at Ellis, whose ears reddened in embarrassment; she then tapped her bottom lip as if deep in thought. Great, she was another optimist like Ellis. Why else would she be taking the comment seriously instead of stating that was crazy like Janice had done?

"Send them on their way mom," Shane said suddenly, "We can't afford to let them stay here."

"Hey, Shane!" Lindsey snapped suddenly, "We can all hear you, shut your trap already."

"Screw you Lindsey."

"Eat me douchebag."

She then tossed a can of tomato soup at him, he caught it but the surprised look on his face told Nick that he hadn't been expecting Lindsey to stand up for the newcomers.

"So, Coach is it?" she asked, "What do you think about this plan Ellis thought up?"

Coach heaved a sigh.

"I don't know, it seems too much of a risk."

Lindsey nodded.

"True, but Janice and I are pretty good nurses."

"I wasn't sayin' you weren't, I'm only concerned about Ro."

Lindsey nodded and then left the kitchen, approaching Janice. Nick glanced at Ellis.

"Looks like you've got someone else on your side," he muttered.

"She seems nice enough," Ellis pointed out, "If she's willing to help, I ain't gonna turn her away."

"Gotta agree," Coach mused. Nick shook his head.

"I swear to God I'm the only sane one left here."

"No one said you had to come Nick," Ellis said shortly, "I'll go all by my damn self if I have too, I'm not givin' up. There might not be much hope, but I'll hold on to what little there is. I owe Rochelle that much."

* * *

**Winter-Rae:** Well...I hope you guys enjoyed that. Please don't throw anything at me. Thanks for reading, cheers!


	7. Chapter 7: Deciding

**Will There Be Tomorrow**

**Title:** Will There Be Tomorrow

**Summary:** When a mysterious illness starts affecting Rochelle and nearly killing her, the others are left to wonder; what caused it, will it get worse and will they be next?

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing!

**Pairings:** Ellis/Rochelle, some Rochelle/Nick

**Warnings:** Language, mature scenes, sexual situations, and character death. You have been warned.

**Winter-Rae:** Thanks everyone, my worries have been put to rest. You are all so wonderful to me. Well, enjoy this new chapter!

* * *

**Chapter 7: Deciding**

Rochelle was staring up at the ceiling of the bedroom with her hands placed on her lower abdomen. For the life of her she couldn't believe that the...the what? The baby? No, she couldn't call it that. Babies didn't rip apart and kill their mothers from the inside. The thing? That was more appropriate in her mind. She couldn't believe that this 'thing' was the cause of all of this grief and pain.

She wanted it gone, she wanted it out of her, and she wanted to be well again. How though? Janice had mentioned that it was too big to be aborted, which scared her even more. If she was technically only three months along, just how fast did these things grow? How did she not notice this before? And how long would it be before she felt it ripping at her insides?

She cringed at the thought.

'Jacob,' she thought bitterly to herself, 'I can't believe I said I should have stayed with him.'

Blaming her ex however did nothing to make her feel any better. Sure she could say it was his fault, and blame him as much as she wanted; but that didn't stop the thing inside her from growing and robbing her of her strength so that it could grow and develop.

Rochelle placed her hands over her eyes to stop the tears that were stinging them. She didn't want to cry anymore, she had done too much of that lately.

A knock on the door helped her push her current train of thought aside. She sat up and lent against the headboard of the bed. She hoped the person at the door was Ellis, ever since she had all but shot him down after he said he loved her she felt a deep guilt. She cared about Ellis deeply, was it love? She wasn't sure, but she wanted to talk to him again.

"Come in."

It wasn't Ellis' head who popped in however, it was a woman. She looked to be close to her own age, maybe a little older. She smiled at Rochelle and slipped into the room, closing the door behind her.

"Rochelle?" she asked.

"Yeah?"

"I'm Lindsey, a friend of Janice and Peter's I'm also a nurse, how are you feeling?"

Rochelle shrugged.

"I guess Janice told you what's wrong with me, so you tell me."

Lindsey looked sympathetic. She pulled up a chair next to her bed and sat in it, watching her carefully.

"Janice asked me to come and sit with you for a bit."

"Why?"

"I have better bedside manner than she does, got an A in the class in school."

Rochelle arched an eyebrow.

"Is that supposed to be a joke?"

"Yeah, guess it wasn't too funny though right, not the time either, my bad?"

Rochelle shrugged and glanced at her, noticing a wedding band on her finger.

"You're married?"

Lindsey glanced at the band and a sad look filled her face.

"Widowed now," she said. Rochelle mentally kicked herself.

"I'm sorry."

"He was a paramedic," the nurse explained, "and a lot of medical personnel were the first to get infected. But thankfully it was quick; a police officer finished him off."

"It still must be hard."

"Of course it is, but we're not here to talk about me; actually, I'm here to explain a few things and ask you a question or two, if that's okay?"

"Shoot," Rochelle said.

Lindsey bit her lip and Rochelle couldn't help but noticed that it seemed to be a bad habit as her bottom lip was rather red. Like someone who would bite their nails until they were so short the skin would break and bleed. She didn't draw attention to it though, she was curious as to what Lindsey had to say to her.

"I take it you've seen more of what this shit does than Janice did?" she asked.

"Yes."

"What am I in for?"

"You want it sugar coated?"

"I doubt that will do me much good."

"Okay then: pain, a lot of pain, bleeding, and all the other signs of pregnancy like morning sickness and such," Lindsey explained softly, "Soon, you'll start to lose consciousness more and more because of the pain you'll be in. There will be seizures caused by fevers, and the only way you'll really be able to sleep is if we heavily sedate you. With that, you won't be aware of much of anything or anyone around you. The more pain you have, the more we'll medicate you; but with that comes the risk of an overdose. If I were in your shoes I'd take the overdose over the pain, it would end it quickly."

"An overdose of what?" Rochelle asked.

"Morphine."

"Screw that, no."

Lindsey smiled.

"I don't blame you for thinking that way," she said, "So, the baby; do you want to keep it?"

Rochelle looked at Lindsey as if she was out of her mind.

"Are you seriously asking me that?"

"Yes, some of the women didn't want the baby hurt; to them it was still their child."

Rochelle shook her head.

"This is not a baby, a baby doesn't do this, only a delusional fool would try to protect a soulless and flesh eating monster."

"Well that's one way of putting it."

Rochelle heaved a sigh.

"I've always wanted a baby," she admitted, "I love kids, I really do, but what's inside of me isn't a sweet little baby. It's a zombie and it's killing me."

"There's an alternative, if you want to hear it."

Rochelle stared at her, waiting to hear this 'alternative,' but also confused by it. Janice said that there was really nothing that could be done for her. What did Lindsey know that she didn't?

"What is it?"

"Actually your friends Nick and Ellis came up with the general idea, I've just been building up off of it. Going over it in my mind to see if I think it could work."

"And?"

"I think it really might."

Rochelle could see a glimmer of hope in Lindsey's eyes. Whatever this idea was, it was obvious that it hadn't been tried before, so she had no way of knowing if it would work or not. Still, desperate times called for desperate measures and Rochelle couldn't think of a time where her situation had been more desperate.

"What's this great idea then?"

"We could take the baby out," Lindsey said finally.

Rochelle opened her mouth but no words came out. That was their great idea? To cut her open like a God damn science experiment? She'd smack Nick and Ellis the next time she managed to get her hands on them.

"You've got to be shitting me."

"No, it would be just like a c-section; we would open you up and take the baby out; you would live and the infected child wouldn't."

Rochelle was at a loss. Lindsey offered her a bottle of water which she took and drank slowly before she could find words to speak.

"B-but we can't do that here," she stammered.

"Well, me and some of the boys would have to stop at the hospital in town and get everything we might need," Lindsey replied.

That answer had Rochelle shaking her head.

"No, I won't let anyone risk that just for me."

Lindsey scoffed.

"Sweetie, no offense but that Ellis kid is hardly the type to be restrained," she pointed out, "Even if you flat out told him no, I'm willing to bet he'd go anyway."

"I know; that's his way," Rochelle sighed, "Even after I was such a bitch to him."

Lindsey cocked her head to the side in confusion, but she didn't press the issue and Rochelle was thankful for that.

"Okay," Lindsey mused, "I told you what's going to happen to you, your options and our ideas. So now, here's the big question, what do you want us to do?"

Rochelle looked up from the blanket to Lindsey's face. She looked serious in her want to help her and the others but Rochelle didn't want anyone to get hurt. She should be going with the guys, they were a team after all, and a right damn good one according to Ellis. She couldn't bear it if they got hurt in this attempt. But she also didn't want to die.

"I want this thing out of me," she said, "I want to live."

"Well that answers that," Lindsey said, "We go, get the supplies and be back in a couple of hours, after which we do the surgery so you can recover. Easy."

"No offense Lindsey, but in my recent experiences a seemingly simple task is never easy," Rochelle pointed out. Lindsey sighed and then nodded.

"True, try not to worry, we'll be heading out soon," she said, "You wanna talk to any of them?"

Rochelle nodded.

"Could you send in Nick please?"

"You got it."

Once Lindsey left, Rochelle rubbed her face with her hands, trying to fight the emotional and physical exhaustion. She couldn't believe this. It seemed crazy to her. Why would they even want to risk so much just for her? She was just one person. Coach and Ellis both had families they needed to get back to and Nick had a life somewhere away from all of this shit. These new people also had their own lives to lead, she hated asking so much from them, it didn't seem fair. She knew she would owe them all a huge debt if everything worked out alright, and that was a huge if.

She looked up as Nick entered the room with a dark scowl on his face.

"Hey," she greeted.

"They're gonna cut you open," he growled, "And you're going to let them?"

"I don't want to die Nick, I'm scared."

"Aren't we all?"

"Not you."

Nick scoffed.

"I'm plenty scared Rochelle, I don't want to lose you either."

An awkward silence fell over the two of them. Rochelle looked away from him, finding that she couldn't bring herself to look into his eyes. Nick ran a hand through his hair.

"I know Ellis loves you," he said, "And I think you know how I feel too."

"Don't do that," she said, "I'm sorry for hurting you so badly."

He shrugged.

"Doesn't matter."

"It matters to me, I put a huge burden on you and I shouldn't have, you don't deserve that."

He scoffed.

"I deserve worse, maybe this is my karma for all of the stupid shit I've done," he mused, "If it is, I hope she stops dealing it out soon, this shit sucks."

Rochelle couldn't help but smile, and was relieved to see a small one on his face as well.

"So, why me?" he asked, "What do you want to talk to me about?"

"I was going to ask if you were going to go with the others."

"Yeah, someone's gotta make sure Ellis doesn't go shooting his foot off or something like that, but Coach is gonna stay behind with you."

Rochelle didn't like the sound of that.

"But why?"

"Cause I don't trust these people," Nick muttered seriously, "That Shane guy is a real asshole, and something about him just doesn't sit right with me. The last thing I want is to come back here and find out he's hurt you, cause then I'd have to kill him and his parents have been pretty decent to us after all. So Ellis, Lindsey and I will be going. And I'll....look after Ellis for you."

"Look after yourself too," she said, "I don't want to lose you either."

Nick crossed over to her and sat next to her. He placed his hand on her cheek. For a moment Rochelle was scared that he would try to kiss her. It would be a lie if she said she didn't care for Nick, because she did, just not in the way that he wanted. She placed her hands on his chest, ready to gently push him away if it came to that, but it didn't. All he did was lean in and hug her to his chest.

"Nick," she whispered.

"I know," he replied.

He released her and got to his feet.

"Now, if you're the praying type, now would be a great time to call in a favour with the big man upstairs," he told her, "I'll see you in a couple hours."

He then waved and left the room before she could say anything else.

* * *

Ellis could practically feel his feet itching to get going. He stood near the door rocking on the heels of his feet, hoping he was getting his impatience across to both Lindsey and Nick.

Janice, Lindsey and Peter had put their heads together and had come up with a pretty long list of all of the possible items they might need for Rochelle's surgery. Since Lindsey had worked in the hospital she knew where everything was so that would make the trip shorter than if it was just him going. Not to mention the fact that she knew just what they were looking for.

Lindsey also had a large pickup truck in the garage of Peter and Janice's home, perfect for slamming into any zombies that might get in their way on the way there or on the way back. In his opinion, things were looking up.

He was nervous however, as Coach and Rochelle wouldn't be with them. Their team was being broken up and they were short one person. While Lindsey seemed to be capable it wasn't going to be the same. He understood Nick's intentions of wanting Coach to stay behind because in all honest he didn't trust that Shane guy either.

"Well good luck," Shane said as Lindsey gathered up some ammo and medical kits to take with her in the truck, "In my opinion this is both stupid and suicidal."

"Good thing we never asked for your opinion," she replied, "I happen to think that helping someone survive isn't stupid. While it can sometimes be suicidal I'd rather be doing this than sitting on my ass and doing nothing, you know, like you."

Nick and Ellis both chuckled. Lindsey might be small but she certainly wasn't afraid to put Shane in his place.

"You three be safe now," Coach said, "I would be there with you if I could."

"I know Coach," Nick said, shaking the larger man's hand, "But this is important too, we'll be fine."

"I'll be praying for ya'll," Virgil added, "Bon chance."

Lindsey led the way to the garage where her truck was waiting.

"I'm driving," she said once they had placed their gear inside.

"Yes ma'am," Ellis replied, giving her a salute. Lindsey giggled while Nick just rolled his eyes.

"Crazy hicks," he muttered, "The both of you."

"Come on suit, don't be hatin'," Lindsey teased as she got behind the wheel and started the engine. Ellis climbed into the back seat of the truck while Nick sat in the passenger's side. Lindsey adjusted her seat, since it had been set for someone much taller than she was, and clicked the remote garage door opener.

"The drive will take ten minutes, maybe," she mused, "Maybe an hour at the hospital getting everything and then another ten minutes back. That's if everything goes well and those bastards don't give us too much of a hard time."

"Which it won't and they will," Nick pointed out.

"Shit Nick, you know that you probably just jinxed us," Ellis mused, then after a moment he added with a chuckle, "Again."

"What can I say," Nick muttered, "I'm ever the voice of optimism."

* * *

Wingham and District Hospital was a typical small town facility. It was only one floor, not a stair or elevator in the whole place, but it covered a large surface area. If one was to walk from one end of the building to the other, at a regular pace, it might take them at least ten minutes.

Lindsey had explained that while she drove, and also about how the hospital was equipped to handle births but didn't always perform the deliveries. The doctor usually preferred to send the women to larger hospitals where they could be provided for if there were complications during labour. That didn't give Nick much confidence in this idea of theirs though. Of course he didn't have a lot of faith in it to begin with. Ellis on the other hand, only nodded.

"Makes sense, a lot of smaller places do that now a days."

The drive there was quiet enough, Lindsey was too busy focusing on the road to speak and Nick had nothing he wanted to say. Oddly enough, Ellis was silent too, no doubt thinking about Rochelle and this idea they hatched out.

The road to the hospital was a difficult one to navigate. Cars, trucks and other abandoned vehicles littered most of it, and where there weren't any vehicles there were a lot of wandering Infected. Some didn't pay much attention to the truck and the ones that did were quickly run down. Lindsey had clearly done this before.

"Why didn't the doctor send the women with Infected babies away?" Nick asked her suddenly, breaking the silence. Lindsey frowned.

"CEDA told us not to bother," she replied, "Said it wasn't worth it to send them away if there was nothing that could be done for them."

"And no one tried to cut out these 'things' I take it?"

The brunette shook her head.

"It happened quickly, we didn't even know what to expect, but Rochelle's body seems to be holding the child back as much as it can," she then added, in a softer tone, "I think we can save her, I'm sure of it."

Nick appreciated her confidence and the determination in her eyes calmed him slightly. He glanced at Ellis in the rear view mirror before he asked his next question.

"What happened to the Infected babies?"

Lindsey jerked the wheel to run down a small group of the zombies before she answered him.

"Depends," she mused, "Some didn't survive after 'breaking out' of the mother, something in the air, maybe. The ones that did survive...well, did you see Pet Semetery?"

Nick frowned darkly. He had seen Pet Semetery, and hated it, so he could only imagine just what she might have had to do in order to survive such a thing.

"You did what you had to," he offered. She sighed.

"That's what I keep telling myself, but I'll tell you something Nick, it doesn't help with the nightmares."

"It never does," Ellis muttered from the back seat, looking out of the window. Nick nodded in agreement and the three of them fell into silence for the rest of the trip.

* * *

Back at the house, a sense of anxiety had fallen upon Coach. When he wasn't sitting with Rochelle in her room, he was pacing the hallway while she slept. There was just something about the house and a certain person in it that had him on edge. Shane had been tossing glares his way ever since Ellis, Nick and Lindsey left. Coach hadn't noticed it before, but there was something in Shane's eyes that unnerved him. The man was ice. There was no emotion in his eyes at all. He spoke to his parents without any hint of respect, and looked at Coach and Virgil as if they were vermin.

He dared not speak of this to anyone out of worry for how they would react. He couldn't talk to Rochelle about it because she needed rest to stay strong for her surgery. He would never mention it to Peter or Janice since Shane was their son. And Virgil, well, he just didn't seem to think anything was wrong.

So Coach opted to keep his magnum holstered at his side and had even snuck two pistols into Rochelle's room. She placed them in the bedside table drawer when he said it was 'just for safety.'

As he paced, silently praying for the three who had left, Shane approached him. Coach looked up at him, surprised suddenly by how tall and large he was. The kid would have been a very decent football player.

"You need something Shane?" he asked. Shane shook his head and crossed his big arms over his chest.

"How's your friend?" he asked causally, glancing at the door to Rochelle's room. Coach shifted towards it, slightly blocking the handle from Shane's reach.

"Better, worried about Nick and Ellis right now, and sacred as hell about this operation, but she's a strong young woman."

Shane nodded, even though Coach could tell he wasn't really listening to a word he had said.

"So, you think this operation is a good idea then?"

"It's the only chance she's got."

"Any idea who is going to be doing it?"

Coach arched an eyebrow.

"Your father seems to think he can."

Shane let out a laugh.

"I don't know if you noticed, but my old man has a little bit of a problem."

He then held up his hand and mimicked the slight shake that Coach did indeed notice before.

"What about it?"

"He's got more than a small drinking problem, you let him do this and you might as well sign your friend's death warrant; just thought you should know."

Shane then nodded to Coach and turned on his heel, leaving the older man to ponder his words. Coach crossed his arms over his chest and heaved a sigh.

Why couldn't anything go right and stay right?

He wasn't sure if he should bother bringing up Peter's issue to Rochelle or even confront him about it. If brought up, Peter might withdraw his interest in helping them, or worse, he might perform badly during the surgery. For all Coach knew he could be fully capable for this task and Shane was just trying to put doubts in his mind. Well he certainly did a very good job of it.

After a few quiet moments alone with his thoughts, Coach walked in the same direction Shane had, thinking that he was going to speak to Peter, or even Janice about what Shane had said. However, during his walk he and happened upon the older couple sitting at a desk in the sitting room. Peter was pouring over text book after text book, flipping pages, reading and taking the occasional sip from a mug that contained strong coffee. Janice was also flipping though books and then handing them over to her husband, explaining which passage he should read.

For someone who had been against this idea to begin with, Janice was making sure that both she and Peter were ready when the time came to save Rochelle's life. She obviously knew about her husband's problem but she never brought it up as a way to stop the surgery from happening.

"I'll be with you ever step of the way," Coach heard her say to Peter.

"I know Jan, I can do this."

"Of course you can."

Coach sighed and turned away.

If Shane's intention was to put doubt in Coach's mind, he certainly succeeded, but this was one burden he would take on alone.

* * *

**Winter-Rae:** The next chapter might take a little longer to come out since there will be more action in it then there has been in previous chapters. Thanks for reading everyone. Cheers!


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